My voice is a little scratchy this week! I've been fighting a cold, but I didn't want to wait another minute to bring you this episode on friendships, and the hard truths I learned while God pushed me to write to this. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you get something out of it!

I keep thinking about something I saw on Facebook. I’m not usually one to share a whole lot or put too much stock into things I see on social media, but this one hit home for me. Have you heard the song, Mary Did You Know? Well, the picture thing that’s going around right now says, Mary did know, but her mother didn’t. When I first saw this, I thought, huh, and kept scrolling. But then I saw it shared again by someone else. And I started thinking more about it. And then I read a post that went along with the picture that talked about how the angel appeared to Mary, but not to her mother. Her mother just raised her to be a daughter of God without knowing what God’s plan for her life was. She raised her to be obedient. She raised her to put her faith into a God she could not see. Mary knew, but Mary’s mother did not. Mary’s mother was an obedient, faithful daughter of God who did what she was taught to do. I recently had a daughter. And I have an almost three-year-old son. When you have children, your world as you know it shifts. And continues to shift through each new phase of their life, which is really a new phase of your life as well, we just look at it in terms of their lives. If you’re anything like me, you are constantly asking God to guide you in raising these children that He trusted you to raise. You are constantly asking, begging, even pleading for Him to intercede when it comes to raising your children. My prayers always include asking God for guidance to raise these children according to His plan. I don’t know what that plan is. I don’t know what God’s will for their lives is. I have no idea how He will use them for something greater than I could ever imagine…but I know He will. I know He will use my son to spread His message of grace and mercy. I know He will use my daughter to be a witness to His goodness. I know He will use them, but I don’t know how. I don’t know what it will look like. I don’t know what the path will be. I don’t know what is coming, but I do know that my job is to raise them to be obedient and faithful children of God. It’s scary, right? We are entrusted with these tiny humans, try to keep them alive, and then try to raise them the best way we know how. We don’t know what their lives will look like, we don’t know who they will be, but we raise them according to what we know is right anyway. We have these tiny humans who grow up to do what they were created to do, and we have no say in what that is. We spend so much time guiding, teaching, loving, caring, nurturing, disciplining, only to watch them leave and lead lives of their own. I can’t help but think about Mary’s mother. I hadn’t ever thought about this before, but now that I have a daughter (and someone said something about Mary’s mother), I can’t stop thinking about it. Mary’s mother didn’t know. Her grandson is the son of God. Her grandson healed the sick, made the blind see, and was persecuted and crucified because of our sin. He was the epitome of all things good…and he was crucified because of it. Mary’s mother watched her daughter go through the stages of pregnancy, unwed, in a time where that was punishable by death. What was she thinking? Mary’s mother watched as her daughter gave birth to a baby boy, in a manger (legit, a barn with livestock - I can’t). What was she thinking? Mary’s mother watched as Mary raised that child until he was old enough to be on his own. What was she thinking? Mary’s mother watched as Mary’s son was crucified for reasons that were not made known to her at that time. What was she thinking? Mary’s mother watched as her daughter wept for her son. What was she thinking? Mary’s mother watched as her daughter grieved for her son. What was she thinking? Mary’s mother watched as her daughter’s son rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, promising to return one day. What was she thinking? I can speculate as to what she was thinking, but we will never know what she really thought. We do know that whatev