Faith Through Friends

If you were to ask me today to sit down and list all of the friends I've had throughout my life, I couldn't do it. There's no way I could remember all of the people I have come in contact with and had the opportunity to call them my "friend". That's not to say I'm the most popular person ever, I just honestly couldn't list all of the people that I have come in contact with over my lifetime. The older I get, the harder it is to try and remember all of those people. 

Luckily, things like Facebook and Twitter allow us to catch up to those old friends. See what they are up to. Check up on their status, if they're single, have kids, got their dream job after high school or not, etc. I'll come back to that later. 

We all have our "set" of friends that we grow up with and share life with. I have my set of very close and personal friends. We share everything. Physically and emotionally. They are my right hand companions, who I call on when I need a baby sitter, when I need a shoulder to cry on, when I need a trip to Target. As much as they are my right hand companion, I am theirs as well. 

After my husband and I's 3 year journey thus far into our faith, I can't help but wonder how MY faith affects them. One particular friend and I chat a lot about faith, God, questions that many people have about Christianity. The how's, why's, who's. I certainly don't have all the answers, but I can clearly see her curiosity build. I see a spark starting. I can see her questions bubbling, ones she doesn't want to ask, ones she does and I don't have an answer. I can see how much she thinks "man, being a Christian is confusing."

As I said before, social media sites like facebook and twitter allow us to see a little into the lives of the people we left behind in high school. It lets us have even just one tiny bit of affect on their lives. 

Growing up, I was FAR from the "Christian" type. I wasn't a terrible kid or anything. In fact, I was a rather good kid. I excelled in my studies, I volunteered, I was involved in sports, I spent time with my family and I stayed away from drugs and alcohol. I just didn't have a faith background. As much as my mom tried, I just wasn't interested in learning about a "GOD" who had taken my dad away from me. I struggled with that for a long time. 

Until 10th grade I had shown that I was a pretty "good" kid. Then came the drugs, the alcohol, the sex, which eventually led to being pregnant at the age of 16. From here, most of my friends from high school pull this image of me. This is where they judge from. This young girl who WAS smart, who WAS talented, went and did something that will change her life for good. It felt like I was the start of this "BOOM" in girls getting pregnant at 16. 

Through pregnancy, birth and raising my child I have had the same set of friends who are in my personal life on a daily and weekly basis. The same ones I see being affected by my faith today. Over the course of social media becoming a more intertwined part of our lives, I caught up with other friends and classmates through middle and high school. They've seen our journey of faith over the last few years simply because of what is posted and what groups we're involved with. They see the struggles, but they also see the triumphs. 

My close friends see the changes we go through on a daily basis and hear the stories of how we get through the things we are challenged with. But what about those friends on Facebook? How do they view our situation? Does it affect them? Does our following Christ and making that apparent on our Facebook page affect people we haven't talked to since high school? I'm not quite sure. But as I look at my close friend and see the questions she asks and how she wants to be able to have that faith, I HAVE to believe that there is something that sparks a question in someone's mind out there. 

So why is all of this such a big deal? Well, for one I know that having my non-Christian friends ask me questions personally about my faith I am helping them build a relationship with Christ. But if that spark can happen in my close friend, what's to say it can't happen to someone online? That one out of the 400+ "friends" that can see my Facebook posts can be affected? That one of those people can't be sparked to say "what church do you go to?" or "how do you have faith?". 

All in all, it is important to share our stories. Whether they are online or in person. Having faith that our friends can not only help push us closer to Christ, but that we help lead them as well. As I mentioned previously, my friend and I have had many conversations about God. I'm proud to say that she came to church with us over the weekend. I'm even more proud to say that she enjoyed it! But what makes me the most excited, is I know that spark in her is being slowly kindled into a flame and it will soon be shining for her close friends to see.

God is so good...share him. Have faith that your story will lead others closer to him.