My Tribe.

These are my people.

They are my rock. They push me to be better. They stand by me in prayer. They laugh at my quirky love for sugar. They enjoy reading. They have a passion for spreading the love of Jesus.

They are women of God that I am blessed to learn and grow with.

And over the past few years, life has thrown a lot at these ladies to grow through. Heartaches, pain, joy, fear. You name it. Within this group there has been: a messy divorce, the loss of a newborn baby, surviving colon cancer, a premature baby, emotional abuse, and a miscarriage.

But those are not the things that define them.

They are daughters of God.

That is who they are. That is the truth that we stand on daily. We are not perfect, nor do we claim to even have it all together most days. Oh, boy, some days are really bad. But we can rest in the assurance that God is full of patience and grace and mercy. And even though we mess it up daily, He loves us anyway.

Recently I had a falling out with a friend from college. She’s chosen an alternate lifestyle and turned away from God. I reached out to her after over a year of not talking and she said she was not interested in my friendship anymore. She said I made her feel judged and it caused her to change her faith. It cut deep.

But on that same day, God made it clear that even though it was painful to lose a friend, He had brought me a new tribe to fill that space. And not just any friends, a tribe of women with the same values. The same day that I was crying over the loss of my friend was the same day that these 4 women went on a weekend women’s retreat to really seek God through an online women’s conference.

Coincidence?

I don’t think so.

I wanted to go with them, but my teaching schedule wouldn’t allow me, so they trekked on without me. When I finished teaching that first night, they actually video called me to talk about what they had watched. We were able to talk about ways God was moving in our lives and things that really touched us in the first session. It was so refreshing.

As proverbs says, iron sharpens iron. I am happy to be be part of a tribe that pushes each other and holds each other accountable. To encourage me to work to be the best Mom, wife, sister, daughter, teacher and friend that I can be.