Eclectic Group of Friends

Yesterday I had a close friend say to me, "You have a eclectic group of friends."  She is so right! I love it.  The interesting thing is that there is a story behind it and God has truly blessed me in this area.

For years I struggled with feeling uncomfortable around people.  I think it was because my life was full of secret pain that I couldn't share.  My husband was my security blanket when we would go places. I thought I was an extreme introvert.  I would rather be at home alone than go somewhere with people.  It was painful to go to church on Sundays.  I would purposely plan to be late and want to leave as soon as it was over.

When my husband and I separated, I pulled away from most of our friends.  I was very lonely and needed people.  I search online and found a Divorce Care (best program ever!) at a local church.  I started going to the group and later began attending the church.  Through this I found amazing friends.  I can't imagine what my life would look like now if I didn't have those ladies in my life.  All of us were in similar situations - single moms trying to find a way to deal with life.  We healed together, supported each other, laughed and cried often.  (See previous post)

After four years, God started nudging me to go back to my home church.  You have got to be kidding!  I have talked about it before, so I will make this short....  I obeyed and God blessed me with more friends than I could ever imagine having!  And guess what... Many of them are married, and I love it!

We need single moms in our lives to be able to vent to, cry with, understand each other, support each other and pray together.  It is important.  No one can understand the heartache we feel when our children suffer from being in a single parent home, but another single mom.  HOWEVER, we need to surround ourselves with married women too.  One thing God laid on my heart when He was asking me to go back to my home church was that it wasn't good for my children growing up thinking that being in a single parent home was 'normal'.   Don't get upset that I just said that.... think about it.  If you are truly a Godly woman, then you know this is not what God wanted for our children, for us. It is not what God planned for us. I want my children to grow up seeing healthy marriages.  I want them to have healthy marriages!

So I obeyed and God took care of the rest. I can honestly tell you that these friendships fell into my life.  It was nothing short of a miracle!  These women accept me for who I am and love and support me.  I can share with them something I am going through, and they feel it with me, but mostly I find myself being me and focusing on me and my life.  Not the single mom life, the working mom life, or the many other lives I lead... but Julie's life.  Sure all that is part of it, but there are other parts of me too. Do you want to know the best part of it?  A coulpe of their husbands have taken a special interest in my little girl and make sure to give her some special attention.  Another husband checks on me and helps me with my car and has offered for me to sit with them on a Sunday morning.

I am sitting here feeling so overwhelmed by God's love in my life.  How He has truly taken care of me in what I needed.  Oh by the way, the funniest thing is I realized after all these years that I am 100% a true extrovert! Who knew?  Well, obviously God knew because he has surrounded me with more friends than I ever could have imagined!  I have my single moms - who are my rock, I have friends that I have had since I was young - who know me well and have been with me through thick and thin, and now I have this amazing group of married women - who treat me like I am just one of them... which I am!

I think that is the whole point.  It is so great to be just Julie and have a good time.  :)

Think about this... if this is a desire of your heart, or even if it isn't, pray about it.  Ask God to put friendships in your life that will benefit you and your children.