FRIENDSHIP
I have found a friend in Jesus. He’s everything to me. (from the hymn The Lily of the Valley)
Friendship is the magic that can bring the most joy and the most sorrow.
This quote from C.S Lewis says it best “friendship…is born at the moment when one man says to another “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself…”
I have been wonderfully blessed with long enduring friendship in my years. As a child I never had, that I can remember, a true friend. We moved a lot and I was never able to have a real friend. When we moved here, I experienced real friendships. Some to this day are still my close friends.
Thanksgiving is this month and I am sure you have begun to feel the stress of the holidays. I want to start my month with a thanksgiving prayer each morning. Today I am so blessed and thankful for the friendships that God has brought into my life. I am blessed beyond what I could ever measure. Thank you each and everyone. You know who you are.
Samuel Coleridge has said, “Friendship is a sheltering tree.” The group Newsong had a album called sheltering tree. The title song on it said, “ we all need sheltering trees, friends in our life that gets down on their knees” Each of us need someone who cares and prays for us.
I have also a friend that sticks closer than a brother.(Proverbs 18:24) He is Jesus. I want to be thankful everyday for all He has provided for me. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. He is ever interceding for us.
Today stop and spent some time praying for your friends. Be thankful and grateful for our friend Jesus who has an everlasting love and he desires to be our friend.
I hope some of you remember this great hymn. It says so much about Jesus. Thank Him for all these things. He desires our praise.
The Lily of the Valley
by Charles W Fry and William S Hays
I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll.
Refrain
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne;
In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tower;
I have all for Him forsaken, and all my idols torn
From my heart and now He keeps me by His power.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal.
Refrain
He will never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessèd will;
A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear,
From His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.
Then sweeping up to glory to see His blessèd face,
Where the rivers of delight shall ever roll
Sung by Friends in Faith Quartet
