Rejection is Part of Getting Published...

A while ago I shared a post with you about submitting an article to the MOPS Hello Darling magazine on the Power of Friendship.  I was not accepted and therefore, I will post it here on my blog for you to read at your leisure.  Enjoy!!! :)

The Power of Friendship

The power of friendship is one of the most special gifts given to us by God.  As a pastor’s wife, my life is quite transient.  For my husband’s first call, we packed up our things and moved to a small rural community in north central Montana.  For him, it wasn’t such a huge transition because he grew up and lived all of his life in various places in Montana.  For me it was a huge transition. 

I am a big city gal.  I love the hustle and bustle of a city.  There is always something to do in a city.  I, respectively, lived in either Minneapolis or St. Paul on and off for 8 years before moving to small town Montana.  It was a major culture shock and I knew no one.  I had no friends here and the family I had in the area were my husband’s relatives.  I was completely alone.

One of my older friends that I made in the area, who was a pastor’s wife in her first marriage, said to me once, “When I felt so completely alone, I would pick up the phone and call my friends who lived all over the country and feel so much better after talking to them.”  This statement is so true.  I left my mom, dad, brother and many of my closest friends behind when we moved to Montana, but all I have to do is pick up the phone or use the power of technology and skype with them and I feel so much better.

But I have also made friends in my small community too.  It has taken a couple of years but I don’t feel so completely alone here anymore.  Friends are those people who make life fun and amazing. 

I have become closer with other pastor’s spouses, mostly women, who have gone through the same bouts of loneliness as I have and we have bonded so completely over our shared experiences.  

Leaving everything we have known behind to move to somewhere where we know no one; being mothers of young children and trying to find a way to get said children to sit through church at least once so you can enjoy an entire service without having to leave because your child is throwing a fit.  Or those with older children sharing their experiences and imparting their wisdom.  

Friendship, and female friendship in particular, is such a blessing from God.  It has saved my bacon more than once, and I give thanks daily for the gift of friendship.  Through thick and thin, true lasting friendship is the greatest gift of all, no matter how far away or how close in proximity ones friends may be.