Brothers and sisters

Last year this time, the idea that I was to treat people as my brother or sisters was completely foreign to me....Because in all reality, I was closer to my friends that I was to my brother and sisters. I mean, don't get me wrong...I loved my brother and sisters - but I wasn't close to them. They didn't know what I was thinking, they knew what I used to think, they didn't know what I wanted, they knew what I used to want. They had history with me - they knew things about me that no one else knew....But they didn't know me now. So, I felt as if I should try to love the Body of Christ as if they were my friends, not my brothers and sisters. But this year has changed all of that. This year - thanks to the invention of blogging - my brother and I have been able to share what we are thinking and feeling and stuggling with - and we have been able to share some amazing times - Green and Josh are by far some of my best friends - and they are my family too! I can't imaging what life would be like without them...I call them when I get a crush on a guy, when I am in the depths of despair about my insecurities - they call me on sin, on self-protection, on living for myself. And yet, no matter how jerky I can be - and mind you they have seen me look out for Katy and NO ONE ELSE! And they have seen me walking in rebellion and sin - they have seen it - and yet, they accept me fully for who God is making me to be! This friendship has been like finding a thousand dollar bill in your cracker jacks, or cleaning out your trunk and finding that favorite t-shirt that has been missing for weeks!
I have other friends that treat me this way too- but I feel as if Josh and Green are at the top....Because I know I will be apart of their lives as long as I am alive - and I am excited that they are going to be apart of mine as well! Thank you Heavenly Father for such great friend, brother and sister - because of them I can better understand that You who freely gave us Your Son, will freely with Him give us all good things according to the riches of Your grace! Thanks for such a concrete example of this!