Show me, Lord

Well my friend came back...or at least is starting to. The one that I had been losing for a little while now. She finally sent me a message and explained to me a little bit of what was going on in her life. Without going into specifics, she basically told me what I thought she would say: she didn't think she could talk to me about what she had done and how her life was going because she didn't think I would understand and/or approve. This breaks my heart. It hurts to feel like a closed door. It hurts to hear someone say that I'm perfect and they're not, and that's why they can't talk to me. I tried to argue that I am in no way perfect, but that really didn't fly. I may not have done the same things, made the same mistakes, or sinned the same ways, but I certainly am in need of God's grace every day, multiple times. Why can't people see that? Yes, I am in love with Jesus Christ, believe in His saving power, and have a strong relationship with Him. But that definitely does not mean that I don't fall down and need help.

While talking with my friend tonight, I realized that I am going through this difficult situation as kind of a training session. God is disciplining me and showing me how to love my brothers and sisters in Christ, with love and without judgement. I also realized that I have excellent friends and family to support me in prayer during these difficult times. My roommate Lina is especially wonderful. She always offers a hand to hold, and she pats my back and lets me cry. I love it when we pray together, too. I know that her words are directly from the Lord because they're always exactly what I need to hear. My mom has also been incredibly supportive lately. I stayed a couple nights at home this weekend for work, and my mom did my laundry, made me breakfast before work, packed my lunch for work, and prayed with me when I needed prayer. I called her tonight to update her about my friend, and she really had some great advice. She also offered to pray for me and my friend this week, so I'm grateful for that as well.

Whew. Enough of that. I hope you all had a good Halloween weekend. I dressed up as a golfer (Lina's idea) for the Cru Halloween party on Thursday, and I dressed up as a pirate today for work. I wasn't planning on dressing up for work, but I found a cool pirate costume in my parents' basement toy chest. Who knew?! It was fun seeing my coworkers dressed up too, and I think the Costco members got a kick out of our outfits. :)