Investments

I was just about to listen to a church history lecture online, but I felt I needed to write here instead. This morning I had a wonderful, but unexpected discussion with my 2 best girlfriends here in Denver. It is so good to be able to support one another when times get hard. God has blessed me immensely by these two women. They have pursued me as a friend even when I wanted to, and did, push them away. They have shown me Christ in their pursuit of me. How humbled and blessed I am.

God has put them, and other women in my life, to invest in me. I have reached a point where I love investing in them as well. This has pushed me to grow spiritually in so many ways. Letting these women see me and really know me (not just know about me) has produced so much spiritual growth in my life. Because they know me, they can challenge me and love me all at the same time.

For so long I would not let women (with a few exceptions) really get to know me. I have been hurt by females in my past and I have carried that baggage with me for a long time. I internalized a lot of things I've experienced from females in my past, but I am now coming to realize that not everyone is like they were. My female friendships have blessed me in far richer and different ways than my male friendships have. (I may be opening up can of worms with that statement, but that is ok). I have come to firmly believe that you NEED strong same-sex friendships in your life...and not just friendships, but friends that you can invest in and that can invest in you. Male/female friendship are just fine and dandy but there are some boundaries that I think definitely need to be put in place. I think the deep stuff, the intimate stuff, needs to be shared with same-sex friends....otherwise boundaries get crossed and things just get confusing. I think romantic relationships are the exception to that. It has taken me 23 years to realize that.

Who are you investing in? Who is investing in you? Are there people in your life that push you towards spiritual maturity instead of away from it? Find those people and hold onto them.