“So being in a new job, out of my friends comfort zone at university, without my best friend and with a family who were also broken (and also celebrating) I felt like the rug under my feet had just been completely ripped out in the space of a week!” [Read the rest of Part 1 here]
We are to be unapologetic in relationships, to be authentic and not held by stereotypes of who we ‘think’ we should be.
Sometimes I think we have a stereotype built up in our heads of a perfect Christian girl. You know who she is, she’s perfectly manicured, dressed to perfection, she speaks kindly to her brother, she is always pleasant to the teachers and gets all the answers correct, she laughs with her parents with eyes of nothing but absolute love and her voice is sweet and calm… do you know who I am talking about?
I’ll let you into a secret… she doesn’t exist! But we build her up so much that so often we hide behind the superficial ‘I’m fine’ comment when actually we are going through something pretty hard.
From this season that I went through I cannot express more how much I underestimated the value of being authentic and honest in relationships and having close friends around me who could accept me and support me exactly where I was at.
We are not called to do life on our own. Having a support network is biblical;
Jonathan and David, Ruth and Naomi, even Jesus had his close friends.
During my tough season, God provided an unexpected friendship who was going through a similar pain of her own. The honesty and trust that was built during this time was one of the most amazing things that came out of this season.
The ability to be vulnerable with someone and to turn up at their door or call them at any time crying and that to be ok pulled me through the harder days.
There were also others around me who, because of my honesty, were able to meet me right where I was at and the generosity of people’s actions, words and love was sometimes so overwhelming that it would be that that brought me to tears!
God’s heart is for us to do life with one another, to build each other up, to encourage one another and it’s something that, as girls, we often aren’t as good at as we should be.
Before walking through this season, I certainly underestimated the value of a support network around me.
God is calling us to be girls who are unapologetic in what we are facing and therefore authentic and honest in our relationships!
If you missed it, check out part 2 & 3 of this series.
