When I spoke in Peoria recently, I talked about friendships' essential components, and one of them is that we stay.
Stay through conflict.
Stay through struggles.
Stay through suffering.
Stay through uncomfortabelness (my spell check tells me that's not a word but you get it).
Stay through spiritual uneveness.
Mary Magdalene is such a beautiful example of this. Because of her great love for Jesus, she stayed.
She stayed after He set her free.
She stayed as He traveled.
She stayed through His torture.
She stayed at the cross.
She stayed at His burial.
She left only for Passover and returned AS SOON as it was over.
She stayed to pass on the news of His resurrection.
I have trouble staying. When a church doesn't quite fit my desires, I want to leave. When a friend is going through a bad time because of choices I can't endorse, I want to leave. When God does things I can't understand, I want to leave.
Come Thou Fount is my favorite hymn, and I think it's because this verse resounds so loudly with me:
O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
I want to leave sometimes, but I long to learn to stay.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Stay
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11 comments:
Very wise words, Amy!
I've so many friends who didn't stay. I don't want to be a fairweather friend. Thanks for reminding me to stick it out!
Wonderful words to live by Amy! Thanks! It can be so easy to walk away when things get tough or don't go our way. I'll remember your words and to "stay" next time I feel like I want to leave.
Love ya!
Samantha Reed *from the P31 office
The hard part is fighting that strong urge to flee! We enter into that flesh defense mode and we want to run, but He has SO much more for using the staying! Perseverance!! Great post!
Staying is often so much harder than leaving. Thanks for pointing out that a true friend stays.
I can identify with you here, too, Amy. In some situations, I have no trouble staying. Yet in others (often ones in which I don't approve of a situation or behavior), I can struggle with staying. I, too, long to stay, to encourage, to help, to let Christ's love shine through.
I love your take on friendship. Committment always comes to mind when I think about marriage, but not so readily in friendships. All relationships require staying through the good and bad. Thanks for sharing.
Great post Amy! Thank you for speaking to us through Jesus Christ. I will remember your words and will look forward to the "stay"!
I really enjoyed your post. Staying is sometimes the most difficult thing to do. But, it is also the times when we seem to experience the most growth in our walk. Thanks for the reminder :)
Yep, we are still talking about you too!! You are awesome and what you said really resonated with all of us who heard you. We have had many ask if we are going to do Girlfriends Rock again next year...seriously who knows what God has planned!!!!
Great challenge, Amy!
Hi Amy,
I came to your blog after reading your devotion today. I am 58 years old, and confidence is something I've always struggled with.
I am leaving a comment here first, because I can also identify with this post. Our church has been having conflicts for a few years, and I did leave for awhile. I was the one urging folks to forgive each other, but didn't see it happening.
I went through a number of jobs over the years, and friends have come and gone. Finally, I've found a job where I've been over 10 years. Still, I look at the job listings within the school system in case something comes up that I may rather do.
I'm thankful that God is active in my life, and causes good to come about in all things.
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