How Did I Miss This?

Last night I had the wonderful blessing of visiting a new bible study of adorable sweet girls! Since my small group (which I was totally in love with by the way) dissolved :( this summer, I have had a hard time finding a new group of ladies to study the Bible with. So you can imagine my JOY when my roomie invited me to visit this one with her. By the end of the evening we were hooked and offering our house to meet at every week. Yay! They are reading a C.S. Lewis book together called "The Four Loves" and last night we discussed Friendship Love.

 It was a really great discussion and challenged me to think about:

1. What kind of friend I am and that what I receive from people affects what kind of friend I am toward them. I don't want to be like that. I want to be the kind of friend who gives without expecting in return.

2. Friendships are ordained gifts from God. There are no coincidences and the fact that I have so many amazing women in my life is not by chance or even by my own effort, but is a blessing straight from the Lord.

3. The greatest way to love a friend is to speak the truth to them. This is the hardest one for me because I am non-confrontational and pretty much try to avoid difficult conversations at all costs! I don't like to feel uncomfortable and so I honestly sometimes avoid truth all together. But the truth is that the gospel is offensive to people and that when you shine light into a dark room, it can really irritate your eyes!

After bible study, a few of the girls came over to our house to hang out, oogle over Aimee's creativity, talk about blogs and jobs and life! It was sweet. But my new friend Rebecca at water {with lemon} showed us this beautiful video!  Apparently it's been out for a while but I'm totally crazy about it and am wondering how did I miss this?!!?

November 2nd Thankful For: so many beautiful gifts from the Lord in amazing encouraging uplifting truth-speaking and seeking friends! I am spending some time today worshiping and thanking God for all those dear ones so close to my heart :)  What are you thankful for today?