Knowing God’s Love Through Friendship

“What size of moving boxes should I drop off? I will bring you any size you need,” my friend Helena inquired. I told her that I would be happy to take anything she had as I wondered why she still had moving boxes stored. “Didn’t they move into their house around three years ago?” I thought to myself. 

I brushed the thought aside and continued to quickly pack and clean, knowing that I had a deadline to make. About an hour later, Helena arrived at my house, her van full of perfectly stacked, evidently brand new boxes. “Where did you get these?” 

“At the Home Depot!” she replied in her delightful Swedish accent. “And I brought you a Diet Coke!”

I tearfully thanked her. This was the perfect, thoughtful, just-exactly-what-I-needed gift that she gave me a few weeks ago during our move. I couldn’t believe that she had taken the time to go to Home Depot, buy brand-new boxes, and deliver them (and a Diet Coke!) right to me. 

Today I want to write about how my friend Helena, along with so many other wonderful friends have recently shown my husband, kids, and me a Christ-like love as we moved from California to Iowa. In 2017, we tearfully left family and friends in Iowa, and we started over in Temecula, Ca. And what we found there was a wonderful, godly community of warm, loving people who quickly became our friends. And then this spring, my husband’s job territory changed, and we felt that God was perhaps calling us back to Iowa. Because of the wonderful relationships we had made in California, it was a very difficult time for us full of lots of questions.  We made the difficult decision to make the move back to Iowa, and so many wonderful people loved us by packing our truck, hosting good-bye gatherings, praying for us, and helping with our kids while we cleaned. 

These kind of self-less actions make me think of this beautiful verse:

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

To me, this is exactly what it means to lay down your life for your friends: to bring the moving boxes and Diet Coke, to lift the piano, to give of time, to do the hard and unseen things like packing the moving truck, to just show up when a friend is overwhelmed and sad and needing help. 

After lots of travelling, we then arrived back in Iowa to our former house. We immediately were greeted with more sacrificial kindnesses. I think of my neighbor, Ann, who brought over fruit salad and Rice Krispy bars, and told us how much she’d missed our kids. I’ll always remember my dad and brother unloading the many household items that they had loaded not that long ago when we moved west. I think of my sisters-in-law who brought cupcakes, and cinnamon rolls, and even paper towels, and toilet paper, items which I hadn’t thought to pick up at the store. I think of my mom who brought sloppy joes and chips for the moving crew. I’ll never forget how these special women unloaded my kitchen and vacuumed and made the kids’ rooms homey. 

And returning to our Iowa church has been wonderful. The countless hugs and “we’re so glad you’re back!” comments have strengthened the weary hearts of our family. To me, having caring friends is one of the greatest gifts that God gives. 

During this move, I’ve learned so much about what it means to be a friend. Yesterday, I told my husband that I want to be more like our friends. I want to show up and bring the necessary things and give of my time and show how much I care. I want to show the love of Jesus by just helping when its needed. Life is truly so hard, and I want to refresh the soul of others by serving them. 

“Proverbs 27:9 A Sweet Friendship Refreshes the Soul.”

I want to be like the good Samaritan who stopped what he was doing, and went out of his way to help. Instead of saying, “Not me!” he said, “Why not me?” Our lives have been immensely enriched by friends who have said, “Why not me?” and I will be forever grateful.