His Encouragement – Friendships

Posted by abakersp in Thoughtful Thursday / 3 Comments

Happy Thursday friends! Welcome to another edition of His Encouragement, a weekly meme where some blogging friends and I try to provide you a little encouragement to help make it through your week.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about friendships. I may not have as many friends as others, but the friends I do have I treasure. Friendships come about in many different ways – through church, work, and even our online community. I’ve made great friends through the blogging community, and I cannot imagine my life without these lovely people. They are quick to encourage and pray for whatever is going on. 🙂

2019 has been a difficult year for so many of my friends. Death, illness, work issues, black slidden family members, and so much more seem to be the norm of topics lately, both in my church and online community. It’s almost like, really Lord? Why is there so much pain? What can I do to be an encouragement and help for my friends that I love so much?


Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.


1 Thessalonians 5:11

First and foremost, the best thing I can do is pray. Pray for God’s will in whatever the situation is. Pray for strength, comfort, healing, and a closer walk with the Lord. Pray that throughout all the sorrow and pain, something good would come out of it. Pray that they would keep the faith, and be a testimony to others watching them go through their trial.

As friends, we also need to be there. This means different things for different cases of course. You can listen. Perhaps you could provide meals to a family. Send a card of encouragement. Give them a big hug. Let them know you’re praying for them. Check in on them from time to time. This list could go on and on.

Friendships should be special to us, especially our friendships with fellow believers. We live in a dark and sinful world, and we need to be able to rely on each other daily. We need to encourage each other, edify one another, and pray together. Do you have a friend that has a need right now? Have you prayed for them? I encourage you to do so, right here and right now. If you’ll be so bold as to leave a comment about this need, I will pray for them too. Or perhaps it is you who has a need. If you share that with me, I will certainly pray for that as well. Let’s encourage each other through the power of prayer!

I’ll begin. If you could pray for this woman at my church (I won’t share her name). She is struggling physically right now. She recently found out she needs to be on a Low FODMAP diet AND has been suffering for over two weeks now from Vertigo. This is so much for one person to deal with. Would you join me in praying for her? Thank you friends.

What’s been on your heart this week friends? I hope you’ll share in the comments, and please don’t forget to visit my friends and see what they’re sharing this week!

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Nicole @ Christian Fiction Girl

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Becca @ The Becca Files

Jenny @ Author Jenny Lynn

Gina @ Stories by Gina

Rebecca @ Rev. Rebecca Writes

3 responses to “His Encouragement – Friendships

  1. This is a topic my husband and I were talking about pretty deeply a few days ago. Good, solid friendships are truly priceless and a true blessing. I’ll be praying for your friend from church!

  2. Good, true friends are the friends who will pray you through things, and who will be there as they can (a phone conversation, a lunch date, etc.). Great verse choice today. It’s a reminder I need for myself to be a better friend even when I’m going through BIG things myself.