Helps us Both to Grow

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return

Well I don't know if I believe thats true

But I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you

Those are the lyrics to the song For Good in the popular musical Wicked. This is one of my favorite songs. Every time I listen to it I love it even more because I realize how real it is.

I have a friend named Andrea. She is my best friend. I don't think I have ever been closer with any of my friends. We haven't known each other for longer than a few years and yet we know each other almost better than we know ourselves. That isn't to say that we understand each other. Because we very rarely understand each other.

I don't know how to start this post because I have so much to say and it all will seem very poorly organized whichever way I choose so forgive me.

I was just in West Virginia on a mission trip and the one day the neighbor of the person whose house we were working on came out of his house and began cussing at our guys. The neighbor was furious about us being too close to his property. There was slight controversy but all in all Pastor Rick was able to smooth things over so the guy stopped cussing but he did continue to watch the guys work in an intimidating way.

Later that evening we discussed the matter. All the people that had been at the work site at the time gave their input about how the situation was terrible but handled well and things like that. I hadn't been at the work site but I couldn't help but offer up my thoughts. I told the group that I thought we should pray for the neighbor. He obviously was going through a tough time in his life if he felt he had to act the way he did. I said that we should pray that God be with him and help him through whatever he is going through. Everyone agreed, so we prayed.

I'm not sure what the neighbors story was. I'm not sure how he is now. I'm not sure if our prayer had any affect. But I believe it did. I believe that he was put in our lives for a reason...to help us to grow if we let it happen...and help him grow in return. (Does this sound familiar...refer to the lyrics above.)

That situation helped us because we learned to pray for our enemies. It helped him because he was prayed for and he is still in my prayers. I hope that God is working miracles in his life.

That is when I first realized how perfect those lyrics are. From then on I've been noticing times when I believe God has placed people in my life so that we can help each other to grow.

Now this is where I come back to Andrea. Andrea and I have helped each other to grow in many ways. Emotionally, Religiously, Physically, and on and on. We've changed each others lives. We are so very different. When you look at our backgrounds we are so different. But our differences give us chances to help each other. I firmly believe that God puts people in our lives precisely for that reason.

Loving Everyone Always Forever