Last year, one of my closest friends walked through the most difficult season of her life, to date. Early in her pregnancy, she discovered that her tiny baby was not developing as she should, and that she would most likely not survive. This was of course, devastating news, and my friend was heartbroken. She worried that she had done something to cause this, wondered why God would allow it, and cried tears of hopelessness in my arms. And I cried with her. My heart was also broken. I walked alongside her because honestly, that was all I could do. I had no words that would comfort, but I linked arms with her and we walked together. She was given the option to terminate the pregnancy and end the life of her child. She chose however to pray and trust God with the outcome.
We walked together through all 9 painful months to the birth of her little girl, praying each day for a miracle. Our women’s group stood with her and prayed. I had never wanted anything more. One year ago last week, my friend’s sweet daughter was stillborn. There had not been a miracle and we were left with tears and questions.
It was a humbling privilege to walk with and, sometimes carry, my dear sister during that time. As women, we have a special and God-given ability to love and encourage each other. We are able to love and support each other in ways that no boyfriend or husband is able to. My friend is married and walked through this with her husband, but he was not a mother as I am, and was simply not able to truly understand her perspective during that trial. He had his own perspective that we were also not able to understand. This is why community with our sisters as women, and with our brothers as men, is so incredibly important. We need each other and God designed it that way. He created us to need to be understood, and in relationships with those who think, live, love, and cry as we do. Those are your sisters.
Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
A few verses later, it says that “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” I often see the cord of three strands as myself, my sisters, and my God. It is you, your girlfriends at school or youth group, and Jesus. Our God has designed us to be in community, and we desperately need each other to survive. Anyone who has ever been in high school knows this! The enemy wants to tear us apart. He wants women to judge each other, talk about each other behind our backs, and to compete with each other. This is not the heart of Jesus. Your sisters in Christ are the ones who truly know your experiences because they are also living it out. In order to live out our Christian lives to the fullest extent, if we want to go through storms coming out alive on the other side, we need our sisters.
Even though my story may not be the same as what you or your friends are currently facing, I’m sure many of you have close friends walking through other difficult things. I’d encourage you to find ways to help carry them through their trial. Love, support, compliment, celebrate, and carry your sisters so they can make it through the other side!
Laura lives in Delaware, OH, with her husband and daughter, Olive. She loves running, baking, and drinking coffee on her backyard deck. Writing has always been her passion and she is looking for ways to encourage and bless others through it.
