A woman and her husband, the mayor of a large city, were walking along the street one day when a construction worker on a nearby scaffold leaned over and shouted, "Hello, Peggy." She turned to look and recognized him as being an old boyfriend from high school. She stopped to say hello and have a brief conversation before she and her husband continued their walk.

The mayor chuckled and said to his wife, "See there, if you had married that fellow, you’d be the wife of a construction worker."

She looked at him and said, "No, dear, if I’d married him, he would be the mayor of this city."

I shared this at a ladies retreat I was speaking at recently. As you can imagine with the room full of ladies they not only laughed but I swear I heard an “amen” or two.

The truth of this story is we all need other people in our lives, people who want the very best for us. We need friends who will challenge us to higher levels of achievement, like dear Peggy. And we need friends who will encourage us to grow in our faith.

Imagine if your close friend knew of something that could change your life, something that could give you a peace and a joy that you never knew existed, something you had never experienced before … and your friend didn’t tell you about it. How would you feel? If it were my friend, I might actually question if they cared about me at all!

I received a phone call from a friend. Her heart was aching over a broken relationship and it was so very clear to me that what she needed more than anything else was to know that she was loved. Loved not only by me, but more importantly by a God who would love her unconditionally; a God who would never leave her, never forsake her. We talked and talked. She cried and I cried, my heart breaking for hers.

I believe that one of the most important things that we can do as a friend is share our knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.

I understand that it might be hard to talk about your faith. It is for many us. But one thing we can do is invite our friends to church. When they enter the church doors at Amberlea they will be welcomed and loved into the family of God and one thing is certain: they will definitely have an opportunity to hear about the redeeming love of Jesus.

I encourage you to invite your friends to church and allow them the opportunity to hear about “God with us”. What a comfort, what an encouragement! Jesus is a constant Companion and Friend. Allow your friends the opportunity to experience HIM.

As a friend, be prepared and open for the opportunity to share what God has done in your life. It’s that easy. And in doing so, my friends, we are being faithful and obedient to the words of Jesus (Matt. 28:18-28).