Best Friends Help Us Weather the Storms of Life

Job changes, failures, and unexpected circumstances all can shake an otherwise settled self-image from its moorings. Life’s ups and downs can spawn questions about one’s self-worth and confidence. Self-doubt can spread quickly, almost overnight.

You’ll more effectively handle all of life’s changes — whether menopause, the birth of a child, the empty nest, a lost job, an illness, a midlife crisis, or difficulty with a teenager — with more than one person alongside you. And so will your mate.

I believe the best kind of friendships get formed in a bunker, during the battles of life. Those moments of trial, of testing, of difficulty, meld people together, just as they made Joshua and Caleb close friends and fellow soldiers for life (14:13).

No marriage takes place on a romantic balcony, but on a spiritual battlefield, where we are called to regain spiritual turf for Jesus Christ. We need friends who will stand by us in the bunker, Caleb-like friends who will take a stand for God.

A true friend can bring value and perspective when you or your mate has blown it. A good friend will hang in there when it seems the whole world has walked out—and so exhibit the unconditional love of God.

Taken from FamilyLife Marriage Bible