Thursday coffee talk

Good Thursday morning everyone! I hope you have had a great nights sleep and you are up and at 'em ready to face this wonderful and glorious day. I have a friend that says, "Every day above the ground is a good day!" That's one good way to look at the day you are about to face! I am so thankful for LIFE! OUR challenge today is to be a true friend. A true friend is one who sticks closer than a brother. Or sister. Proverbs 18:24 says; "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." I hope it can be said of me that I am/was a true friend. One that can be found worthy of my friends. Friend- a person you know well and regard with affection and trust. Do something special today for your friend/friends. Send them an email, phone call or card letting them know how much they mean to you! Cherish your friends today and let's show ourselves "friendly"! SO! Who's up? What cha sippin' on? Me? I'm sipping on Chocolate Biscotti this morning. I love my flavored coffee first thing in the morning. Your taste and smell senses are asleep. THEN! That frist sip of coffee makes them burst into awakeness! What a great thing! I hope ya'll have an awesome, blessed, and FRIEND FULL day! Randall

Good morning Randall I always lookd forward to reading your challenge each day. John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. This verse came to my mind as soon as I read your challange. I probably will not be called to lay down my life for my friends today but I have Jesue example and willingness to do so to comfort me and show me how much I was loved which makes it possible for me to hold my head up and go out and do some small thing to comfort or show my friends how much I love them too. I am blessed to have so very many friends in The Lord and I thank God for them always. Thank you for the challenge. In love, Sandyd

Good Morning Randall, I agree with Sandy, I look forward to your challenges as well. I have been blessed with many wonderful friends in recent years, and try to always return to them the blessings they give me. What is even more challenging is to reach out to someone who may not have many friends and befriend them. I am sipping on my decaf, sugar free iced tea. I am trying to cut back on my caffeine as I am 11 days from surgery and do not want the headaches that go with cold turkey caffeine withdrawal. Hugs, Trish

Good morning all! I'm going in to make decaf with french vanilla - yum. Thanks Randall for the challenge. You know - as friends the most powerful thing we can do is pray for each other and pray together. We were reminded last night that we are empowered with the ability to bless people through prayer! We have been given such an awesome power - and yet - how often do we do it? So - as a secondary challenge - I challenge everyone to take time to lift their friends to the Lord and ask for His blessings on them! Have a great one everyone! - Carolyn 252/174/125 Psalm 121

Hello everyone. Last night our bible study was about intimacy with God and with people. We talked about how to really be intimate with someone you have to develop trust in them. Without retyping my entire notes for you, let me just say that in my life I have had very few close friends. The kind that stick closer than a brother. Because of hurt, embarassment, frequent moving, and stuff like that I have closed up a bit. I am better than I was but I really take my time opening up to people. I have had a few friends that I thought were really close and then something happened and I was hurt, badly. But the Lord is good and He keeps putting me in situations where I have to reach out to others and not become a recluse. My teenage daughters, who are both outgoing won't let me be a wallflower. I am going to send a card to my closest friends today. I need to let them know that I appreciate that they know the real me and STILL like me! Have a blessed day. Hugs, Robin

That's cool Robin. I too have few close friends, and they seem to move on every few years. It's almost like God doesn't want me to become more dependent on my friends than I am on Him... As He never changes and never leaves. He seems to remind me that placing all my faith and hope in man is futile, cuz things happen - but He is always there for me. But, He also wants us to have fellowship and commune with other believes - to build each other up, etc. So, I hope that those fruits become more and more a part of your life. I think that my shyness was very convenient when hidden under 80 extra lbs - I felt hidden. Now, I'm much more vulnerable and noticable. But God is with me and faithful. Have a great day. ~Carolyn

Hi Carolyn, I did have a season when I was too dependant on others and not on God. He took care of that...one friend "tired" of me and then several moved away. (being military that happens a lot) Then I went thru a season when I wouldn't depend on ANYone, not even my husband. I refused to trust anyone, and that spilled over into my trust of God too. Once again, He put me into cir****tances where I couldn't help but trust someone for help. And I have learned that He is so trustworthy because He is so faithful. Our Father is so good to us. He wants balance in our lives. He wants us to have each other (think about what he said to Adam before Eve and Adam had total fellowship with God all the time, still it was not good!). I am learning to be intimate with Him and that will help me to be close to others that He wants me to be close with. It is so really cool, this walk with the Lord. I love it and I love Him. I understand what you mean about being vulnerable & noticable. It's happening more and more. I have had people that didn't really talk to me before come up and chat and of course I can't run and hide. I used to be so outgoing and I am finding my way back to that. Enjoy your day too. Hugs, Robin