Who's in your Tribe?

Friends. We all have them, and we can't live without them. But, the all-important question for you to ask yourself is, who is in your tribe, and are they impacting your life, or causing you more grief/added stress?

I was reading a scripture in Hebrews 10:23-25, "So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning." This scripture lead me down this bunny trail of a million thoughts, thoughts that caused me to think about the wonderful friendships that I have in my life; my gal gems.

I know I'm not the only one to experience this, so hopefully, you can relate. You know those mornings when you wake up and you feel heavy, and there's no real reasoning or explanation as to why. You just wake up and feel that state of blaśe come over you. Well, that's exactly how I woke up feeling on Sunday morning, and I had to go and lead worship at church! *internal cringe* I knew I had to do something to set the atmosphere while I was getting ready, so I blasted some worship music and worked to align myself with the Lord as best I could. I won't lie though, it was tough, I walked in and put on a smile even though I didn't necessarily feel like it, telling my heart to get with it. Vocal warmups happened, practice happened, and nothing happened with me. I still felt heavy. After practice, we have some time to spend in corporate prayer before we open up the sanctuary for everyone to come and snag a seat. I sat my sorry behind down in a chair and closed my eyes, hoping that whatever our amazing sound guy was playing would somehow spark something in me and that heaviness would poof off of me. It wasn't until about halfway through that one of my gal gems came up behind me and said she was going to pray for me. As she began to pray, I could feel the swell of emotion roll over me, and then she started praying over some specific things that had been HEAVY on my heart, and wouldn't you know it, I started to feel some of that weight being lifted. That moment reminded me of Proverbs 27: 9-10, "Sweet friendships refresh the soul and awaken our hearts with joy, for good friends are like the anointing oil that yields the fragrant incense of God's presence. So never give up on a friend or abandon a friend of your father - for in the day of your brokenness you won't have to run to a relative for help. A friend nearby is better than a relative far away." And that's exactly what she was for me at that moment. Fast forward to later that afternoon, I was feeling much better but still, something lingered and it was driving me crazy because I just couldn't shake it. I felt like I was going a bit nuts until I was texting with another one of my gal gems. She had complimented and expressed some beautiful things to me and I was super thankful, and had mentioned that it was something I needed to hear since I had felt so heavy earlier. She then went on to say she hadn't noticed and we took some time to talk about emotional health and the importance of just taking a self-care day when needed. And let me tell you my friends, I felt so encouraged after taking the time to unwrap some of the things I was going through with her.

I say all of these things, and let you in on some of my personal things because I want it to challenge you, to take a moment to think about your "tribe", you gal pals, the iron to your iron. Who is sharpening you? Who is letting your blade become dull? Who is there to help you pick up your sword when it becomes too heavy for you to hold up? One of my greatest and best friends is an example of Proverbs 27:17, "It takes a grinding wheel to sharpen a blade, and so one person sharpens the character or another." She always makes sure to speak truth into my life, even when it's not what I want to hear. She continually sharpens my blade so that it's ready when needed, and is a faithful friend to stand by in the battles of life. These are the women that you want to be in your life. These are the women who will go to war with you, will pray with and over you when you need it, and even when you don't ask for it, they will be there with Oreos and a hug when you need it, or randomly show up with flowers from their garden and a sweet note when you need it most. The ones that will always point you back to the Lord, and sometimes the coffee shop because that always helps too! (Plus its pumpkin spice season, and I wouldn't miss that for the world!) Who are the gems in your treasure box of life? I know who mine are!