why friends can be just as important as your marriage

I’ll be honest: my husband and I have been walking through some major road bumps and obstacles Satan’s been throwing at us lately. However, as we spend more and more time with friends, I’ve began to notice how much we are surrounded by love, support, and kindness.

So maybe I’m being weird. But have you been noticing that more and more posts have been addressing this idea of “focus on you and self-love”, but not a lot focus on our community around us? After finally picking a book of the Bible to study for the next couple months, I dove in and almost immediately was met with one of Jesus’ more talked-about teachings: how important community can be.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul addresses the people of Corinth and how they have started to split into groups based on who is following which apostle. He dares to ask the question, “is Jesus divided into factions?”, and this started to make me think of the movie “Divergent”. The more times I watch this movie, the more I realize the entire film focuses on finding where you belong and fitting in. It’s pretty much devoted to teaching on community and how important those around you can be. They influence everything you do, what you say, and how you react.

Ultimately, this got me thinking about those friends in my life who make the most impact on me personally. While yes, we are always surrounded by people (unless you either live under a rock or in the middle of nowhere and never leave your house, of course), what truly matters are the people you take the time to invest in.

This past Thursday I got to spend time with the women in the small group Joe and I attend each week as part of being members of Linworth Road Church. Once a month we split into guys and girls and get to share about our recent struggles and triumphs. We get deep and personal about many things, which can be both difficult to hear but also really encouraging. Having in-depth conversations leads to vulnerability, but I’ve found this really does lead to more genuine relationships.

As Joe and I continue to hold tight to the Lord as Satan pitches every kind of ball our way, I’ve noticed just how good He is at providing for us. Even though He may not change the situation exactly the way we want, He gives us support systems better than we could ever ask for!

So this week, take care and pay attention to your friend group. Thank them for being there through the best and the worst, because you never know when you may need to lean on them harder than you have before.