Hi fellow Sumites, Christy Edney here! As I was praying for our prayer partnerships I started to wonder if any of you have begun to feel the Spirt using your relationship to advance your spiritual and emotional maturity. I know, that is quite a question! Please let me explain myself. I can look at one friendship in my life and clearly see how God used it to expose and heal some hidden sin in my heart. That friendship began as most do; we met at church, had many things in common and were both seeking God. Over time, I began to love her like a sister and even placed her on a very high pedestal. Then God swopped in and convicted me of my sin in making our friendship an idol. After more time had passed, her life became extremely busy and suddenly I felt like my needs weren’t being met. Yet again, God rushed in to teach me that our friendship was never meant to fulfill my needs. Only God is capable of meeting my every need. He also taught me that our friendship is a gift from God. Like every God-given gift, it’s to be used for his glory and can be a blessing to many people. Now, I thank God for this gift and ask him to show me how I can be a blessing to her.

Growing and sustaining a godly friendship is not easy, it takes intentional prayer, a selfless attitude and a willingness to be molded by the Spirit of God. So, why would I hope and pray for such a challenging friendship? I do this because humans are relational creatures and God uses relationships in more ways than we can begin to imagine. I do this because God brought this woman into my life and I want to be obedient to his command in John 13:34 “So now I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”

Heavenly father, I thank you for the gift of friendship. I ask you to bless our community with relationships that would bring spiritual healing and growth. But above all, please gift us with relationships that would bring glory to your name and impact countless generations to come. Lord, I invite your Spirit to move freely through this community, to shine your holy light on the areas that need to be touched by your healing power. I ask you to fill our leaders with the courage to present challenging topics. Such topics that would propel each of us into a deeper and more fruitful relationship with you. I ask these things in the name of the life giving king, Jesus Christ, amen!

More information on our prayer partnerships can be found by clicking this link: Sumite Prayer Partners. If you are ready to receive a prayer partner then please click the following link to send me an email request: Partnership Request