When I was in elementary school, I participated in Girl Scouts. We sold cookies and learned life lessons. One of the simple songs I remember from those gatherings went like this:
“Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other, gold.”
Whether new friends or old, silver or gold, my prayer now is that they each be made of iron as we sharpen each other in our friendships.
I have come to value the friendships made in different seasons of my life. I have strong memories from early friendships that shaped me into the person I am today. Mentoring friendships modeled what it meant to be a Christian, a sister, and a friend. Sibling friendships have matured past the pettiness of the teen years.
Yet the deepest friendships I have encountered and with whom I continue to have a solid, iron-strong bond is those with whom I have prayed and studied God’s Word. When we share our lives through the filter of God’s eternal perspective, we connect in ways that only God can facilitate.
My Iron Rose Sisters are those who point me to God and for whom I can do the same thing. Their perspectives are as unique as their colorful qualities as roses in God´s garden. God values the beauty we each bring to His garden and He knows how, when we focus on Him, we can walk with and encourage one another on that journey.
And over the years, the garden changes its makeup. Friends come and go. People move. Jobs change. Death separates us for a time.
With each of those changes, we are blessed with the opportunity to make new friends and keep the old. No matter where I have lived, whether a brief or lengthy period of time, the best place to find new friends and develop lasting friendships is through a women’s small group Bible study.
Right now, on Wednesday nights, a diverse group of women, some I have met before, others I am meeting for the first time, gather weekly to go through a pilot study of the book to be released later this year, I already AM: Testimonies of Belief in the Great I AM.
Please share with us a picture of your small group. Let’s celebrate the new friends and the old, connecting with God and one another more deeply!
#IronRoseSister #newbeginnings #makenewfriends #keeptheold