I had the best dinner with a few sweet friends tonight. It is so good for my soul to sit around a table and enjoy delicious food and authentic conversation. I am blessed with some amazing women in my life.

Cabell shared that someone recently told her they envied the friendships she shared with a handful of women in our little town.
"I want friendships like that," the person confessed.
Cabell replied, "But you don't want what it took to get us here...a year of praying together on our faces for a miracle."

And then there was the pain, the loss...and the rebuilding.
These friendships are true, sweet and deep--a rare treasure--but they definitely came at a cost. This didn't just 'happen.' Our friendships have been forged in the heat of the firey trials of life.

Isn't it true of the comparison games most of us play? We 'window shop' other people's lives and envy the ones that appear so much more put together or appealing than ours. The truth is, in most cases, we have no idea at what expense those lives have come to be.

In Chapter 8 of Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl Lysa Terkeurst discusses our tendency to compare our lives to those around us. She points out that each of us has a story that has been written for us--and the Lord has uniquely equipped us for OUR story--NOT someone else's.

I LOVED her strategy for interrupting these thoughts and replacing them with truth.

"Whenever I get an overly idyllic view of someone else's circumstances, I often remind myself out loud:
I am not equipped to handle what they have...
I am not equipped for her good.
I am not equipped for her bad.
I am not equipped to carry the weight of her victories.
I am not equipped to shoulder her burdens.
I am not equipped to be her in any way.
I am, however, perfectly equipped to be me.
Therefore, thank you, God, for only entrusting me with what I have and who I am."

AMEN.