Dia del Amor y Amistad

A bunch of friends in Bolivia celebrating Katie's birthday

Today is National Friendship Day in Bolivia so naturally I should blog about friendship and post some photos of a couple of my friends.
I'm very much an extrovert.  I love people and friends.  People help me recharge.  I admire those that enjoy their time alone and recharge alone, but its hard for me to understand their perspective on life and living.  Throughout my life I have prided myself in my relational personality.  I love to spend quality time with people.  It used to be about numbers.  HOW MANY friends can I have?  Eventually my desires in friends turned into exclusively looking for good quality friendships.

A friend God graced me with: Dpo (my roommate)

As I continue to consider my life and interactions here in Bolivia, I'm realizing how rare it is to have a good solid and real friendship.  A friendship that isn't broken by an ocean.  A friendship that passes by the mundane and pointless conversations and straight to deep heart level conversatons.  God has blessed me with amazing friends across the Globe that I can't even thank Him enough.  But the problem is that I don't thank Him at all.

Instead of thanking God for the people in my life, I put him in the backseat of my life.  I used to have a friend in High School that I would follow around and do things for.  I desperately wanted to be her friend that I would always say yes when she wanted to hang out, and when she'd cancel I'd get hurt time and time again.  I would do anything to hang out with her.  Anything to say that she was my friend.  Eventually I realized that I was HER friend, but she wasn't mine, and I needed to move on.

my best friend, Dave, on one of our skype dates! ;)

Wow.  I treat God the way my "friend" in High School treated me.  I have trouble singing the song "I have a friend in God" because I can't see my relationship with God as a friendship.  I see it as so much more formal and square than that.  But realistically, thats my own fault.  He's the last one that I ask to hang out with.  He's the last one that I talk to when I'm in a crisis, He's the last one I consult for advice when I'm making decisions.  I don't spend quality time with Him like I do with my friends or my boyfriend.  I don't carve out a specific time to skype with Him.  There are so many things in my life...the life HE gave me...that I don't include Him in.

I should be the one chasing God for a friendship, but instead He's the one chasing me.  How privileged am I that I get to be friends with the Creator of the Universe? And the thing is, he won't just move on or get tired of chasing me, but I need to stop making Him chase me and start letting Him walk alongside me in every single aspect of my day. From the simple to the complex, the happy to the sad, the normal to the abstract; God wants and yearns to be part of my life, and I should see the value in that.

Thanks for your prayers & support!

Rachel

Prayer Requests for this Week

• Saturday: Pray for me as I commit to intentionally spending time with God on a daily basis.
• Sunday: Pray for the teachers during this long weekend.  That we can relax and rest, but also catch up on work we might be behind in.
• Monday: At High School youth group, we are having a party for Santa Cruz Day. Pray that its a night of opportunities to build relationships and trusts between the leaders and students.
• Tuesday: Pray for me on my busiest day.  Pray that God will grace me with energy and drive that only comes from Him.  Pray that I will not attempt to do it on my own
• Wednesday: Pray for chapel.  That it would be a time that both teachers and students will be able to meet with God and be edified.
• Thursday: Pray for the sports teams.  That they will be a light on the field (soccer) and on the court (volleyball), and that they will have fun and be protected from injury
• Friday: Pray for the Junior High.  This is the kick off night for youth group.  Pray that they will want to come, and that their hearts will be opened to the Truth.