The Friend You Need.

I’m a firm believer in what you expose yourself to and who you surround yourself with affects you. For example, I expose myself to the dessert bar Imma blow up like Violet in Charlie’s Chocolate Factory. Ya girl struggles with the sweets. If you surround yourself with negative Nancies; you’ll get sucked into their complaining vortex and you’ll come out on the other side wearing a name tag that reads Nancy. But thankfully, it’s not just the negative things that can affect us. We’ve seen countless clips on social media of how one act of kindness causes a ripple effect. One stranger reaching out on social media offering a breath of encouragement turns out to be just the wind we needed to lift our wings. But what’s really great is when you have one of those ripple causing, life breathers in your back pocket.

They aren’t literally in your back pocket but are easily accessible through the phone in your back pocket. You catch my drift.

I have a handful of these lovely ladies in my pocket and God uses each of them to fill my cracked pieces with such concrete wisdom. If I’m frantic and flailing in my faith, I hop onto Marco Polo. If I’m muddling through motherhood and marriage, I shoot a quick text. Each one of these ladies mean more to me than words can ever express but I want to hone in on one friend in particular.

This is the friend who doesn’t just listen as you spit and sputter excitedly about dreams and aspirations; she matches your level of excitement but also asks the important questions like, “So what are you going to have to do to get there?” because she truly wants you to get there, buuuut knows you’re not the best planner.

This is the friend who you can be totally transparent with and trust that she isn’t judging you when you share a truth that most women in your small, rural town do not understand. She doesn’t just leave you feeling ashamed for saying it aloud though. She validates you and reassures you that you were, in fact, made for more than just raising babies and being a helpmate.

This is the friend that you can visit and drink coffee with while daydreaming about sipping coffee one day in New York before a book-signing or speaking engagement.

This is the friend that you can be honest with when you’re feeling the ivy of envy taking root against her successes and she doesn’t leave you to pull them up yourself, but rather gets down beside you and tells you how she had the same weeds and what the two of you can do to uproot them together.

This is the friend that doesn’t just get a boost from you to get over the wall of intimidation and then leaves you standing on the other side wondering how you’ll get over it yourself. This is the friend that reaches the top and hollers down to you while extending her hand to help pull you over as well.

She is the friend that is confident in her abilities and not threatened by yours. 

This is the friend you need.