Friends for all reasons!

It's been a few weeks since I've been able to blog and had a lot of topics running through my head, unfortunately they come in the middle of the night when I'm just too lazy to get up and write them down, so I'm playing catch up:)

Change is difficult and unexpected change is even harder, but do you ever notice that during those times certain people are around to help you through it. I have been thinking about all the people who have came in and out of my life over the last six years. Some due to hard feelings but most because they were there for God's purpose at that time and now life has seemed to move them or me on. It doesn't mean I don't think about them and wonder how they are doing and with Facebook I can always check in on them. However, there are those people who you just seem to drift away from whom at one point and time that were an integral part of your life. You spent time with them, you shared with them, maybe worshipped with them and cried with them.

I don't always understand why people come in to my life for a short period of time and then leave, but I do know that God has always brought people I needed for a specific reason. When I moved to the job I'm at now, I didn't really care for it the first few months. I was away from my family and friends from back home and I really didn't feel like I fit in. Low and behold, someone on the campus who had been here for years just saw her best friend get married and move ten hours away. She was devastated at the loss. While she was praying for God to send her another friend, I was praying that He would send me someone. Within just a few short months we ended up becoming best of friends.

The people in our life are not randomly placed there, down the road you'll be able to look back and see their purpose in yours and your purpose in their life. Sometimes, our purpose is to be an example of a good friend and to help them. Sometimes, it might be for them to help us through a difficult time or situation. Sometimes, they never leave and sometimes they're only around for a short time. Whatever the reason, there's always a reason. Unfortunately, some people stick around longer than God would like us to allow them to, and others leave sooner than we wish they would, but nothing is by accident and in everything a lesson can be learned. Even those times when it hurts seeing them go or choosing to let them go, knowing God is in control helps get through the pain.

Thank God for those people in your life, even those whom your unsure why they're there. If there are those around who consistently bring you down and are negative, pray and ask God to help the situation or help you or them to move on. For those who are encouraging and positive, thank Him for them each day (they are usually few and far between)!