Just a phone call

Why is it that making phone calls is so hard these days?  I think it must be the easy access to just text or email without the actual voice connection.  However, 2 friends made the extra effort to actually call me.  It put a smile on my face and made me feel so wonderful.  And it convicts me and reminds me that I need to just pick up the phone and make a call sometimes.

After my rotten, horrible day on Tuesday, I learned that instead of just thinking, praying, and changing my thought pattern, I should have just picked up the phone and called one of the ladies in my lifegroup.  And since I didn't do that, I didn't know that lifegroup was announced at church on Sunday (I was out of town).  Instead of feeling excluded, I would have received the information needed to attend.  I really LOVE the ladies in the lifegroup and look forward to sharing life with them when we get together.  And it meant the world to me when I received a phone call sharing with me how much our friendship means and how we are really just a phone call away.  A lesson learned, make the call, instead of wondering. 

I see the pattern of satan at work in my life.  My number 1 biggest problem in life is with friendships.  I have been really hurt and burned so many times in my life, that I immediately expect the worse from all my lady friends.  I just believe that they really won't stick by me, that I will annoy them or offend them by trying to fix their problems because I like to fix things.  Maybe they will just decide that I'm really not a very popular or fun person to be around.  And maybe it's just because we are so different from each other.  But, the love and reassurance I receive from a lady friend each time helps me to get past all the negative possibilities.  I have spent the last 8 years praying and trying to figure out how to make friends, keep friends, and be a better friend.  I am a work in progress and any person that is willing to love me and help me along the way by sticking by me even when I'm a little overly emotional is such a blessing and part of my healing process.

We all have areas of hurt and brokeness in our lives.  I believe that we cannot begin to heal until we shed light on the problem.  We need to be more open and be more willing to talk about it and let others in to help love us through it.  If we can't ever do that, then we won't ever receive the healing needed to continue.  And we need to remember that when people begin to expose themselves, they are setting themselves up to be hurt again, so we need to be extra careful to not be judgemental, shocked, or critical towards them.  Let's just LOVE them through it.  That's really what we all really want isn't it, to be LOVED?