"All I Want Is A Friend"

Aletha HinthornCora plodded up the stairway under the burden of two tote bags, two jobs, and a seventeen-hour work day. "God, all I want is a friend," she prayed, "not a lot of friends, just one person to call when I get home. Is that too much to ask?"

"Yes." God's answer brought her up sharply. "Until all you want is Me, that is too much to ask." His words sounded in her mind as if He had spoken in her ear.

That night she crawled into bed with one question in her mind. How do I want God and nothing else?

For days that question remained. It required her full attention; it demanded she find an answer. It forced her to examine her desires and reasons for them.

The principal idol in her heart was the husband she didn't have. She wanted his income and love to make her secure. She wanted him to give her children thinking they would make her significant.

She asked herself some hard questions: Is God really most important in my life? Is He worth following, if that means I have to stay single? If so, then how can I change my thoughts to more accurately reflect my faith?

She realized she professed to seek God's will, but really sought her own. The truth was that she wanted to be God.

Telling herself this truth changed her life. She determined to no longer waste her time and energy making herself miserable, but to rejoice in her blessings. When the Enemy reminded her of what she didn't have, she remembered what she did have. A friendship with God slowly grew. She developed a rapport with Him more tangible than she thought possible. Instead of dwelling on her loneliness, she examined the wonder of God and His perfect love.

As His presence fills her tiny room, God pours peace into her heart. She is learning to dwell on the living God and to want Him instead of things. She meditates on Scripture that speak of His sufficiency.

Dear Jesus, give us grace to acknowledge that You are always sufficient to meet our emotional needs.

"A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families: He bringeth out those which are bound in chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land" (Ps. 68:5-6 KJV).

Prayer Request
Please pray for Kim McLean and the praise team as they meet later this month for their second song-writers' retreat. Pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire them to write songs our Lord wants to hear His people sing.