June Hunt - Friendship: Iron Sharpening Iron

The printed version of this eBook is the Friendship: Iron Sharpening Iron book, ISBN-13: 9781596368828

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Friendship: Iron Sharpening Iron
Copyright 2013 Hope For The Heart
All rights reserved.
Published by Aspire Press
An imprint of Hendrickson Publishing Group
Rose Publishing, LLC
P.O. Box 3473
Peabody, Massachusetts 01961-3473 USA
www.HendricksonPublishingGroup.com

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FRIENDSHIP

Iron Sharpening Iron

JUNE HUNT

• Gives practical advice and Biblical wisdom from June Hunt, a biblical counselor whose award-winning radio program Hope For The Heart is heard on more than 900 radio outlets around the world. For more than 25 years, she has counseled people, offering them hope for todays problems.
• Includes helpful tools, tips, and explanations on how to build healthy friendships. Features 20 do's and don'ts on friendship, covering everything from listening attentively to letting go of unforgiveness and offense.
• Reveals 9 ways selfishness can sabotage a friendship and how to overcome the 4 barriers to intimacy within friendships.

Dear Friend,

I know what its like to not have a friend a true friend, a trusted confidant. And for good reason. I couldnt share my painful home life with anyone. I felt like there was a cork in my throat.

In reality, I grew up in an adulterous homeoff on the side. Then after my dads first wife died, our family of five moved into his huge house. (I was 12 years old.) A year later, my parents married.

During this period, an unspoken code of family loyalty prevented me from trusting others with the truth. Oh, I had acquaintances. But they werent aware of the embarrassing secrets locked behind our closed doors and my closed heart. Secrecy and shame were my only intimate companions.

Then in 11th grade, I met Catherine. Reserved and winsome, Catherines sensitive nature seemed to parallel my own. She was a senior who had just moved to town (how hard was that!). Quite soon, Catherine was the answer to my unspoken prayer. Finally, I had my first friend!

As I poured out my heart to her, family secrets, personal pain, and private thoughts cascaded out like an undammed river.

After Catherine left for college the following fall, I could hardly wait to see her smiling face at Christmas. However, following her return Catherine explained that she had outgrown our friendship and needed to move on. Then she suggested I do the same. In social media terms, she unfriended me (though the term didnt exist back then). Absolutely crushed, I reluctantly parted company with my first friend.

Nevertheless, in following years, the Lord began to bring new friends into my lifea small group of forever friends who have literally stood by me in the good times and the bad. Through this process I began to see that, just as Jesus had chosen disciples whom He called friendswe can have an inner circle of friendsnot a cast of forty, but a few close friends.

Instead of focusing on one exclusive friend, how much better to have a family of friends that resides within the home of our hearts. In this home, each friend occupies their own special place and each fulfills a special, meaningful purpose. For example, the warm inviting living room where laughter and entertainment abounds is quite different from the cozy comfort of the kitchen table where stomachs and hearts are nourished. Even two necessary rooms, the laundry room and the bedroom, can never take the place of the other. In my Friendship House, my grace friend , Barbara (who taught me grace), doesnt occupy the same space as my ethics friend , Eleanor. And my ready-to-go friend , June, inhabits a different place in my heart than my you light up my life friend , Sue. One roomor one friendcan never take the place of another.

I love the word friend . A friend is not your judge and jury. A friend holds your hurting heart. A friend is iron that sharpens iron to bring out your best. Whatever your friend says and does is born out of love, not to shut you up or tear you down. As Proverbs 27:17 says, As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Thats the heart of friendship.

My precious forever friend , Sue, now at home with the Lord, gave me a stained glass etching with these words: A friend is someone to whom you can pour out all the contents of your heartchaff and grain togetherknowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. How Ive loved that sentiment and how I loved having her as my friend.

Years ago, my excruciating experience with Catherine did make me cautious (Proverbs 12:26), but it also heightened my value of friendship, teaching me to never take for granted Gods priceless gift of a friend.

Instead of focusing on getting friendship, God calls us to focus on giving friendship. Our joy and significance will be found in serving and befriending others as an extension of the Lords love for us. (See John 15:1012.)

The source of rich, godly friendships is God, Himself. James 1:17 says, Every good and perfect gift is from above. If you seek abiding friendships, if you have a need for closeness and intimacy, ask God to bring wise friends into your life who will take Him seriously. Ask for friends who will esteem Him and who are committed to Him. As you pray, begin reaching out and serving others by being a friend. As you do, may the biblical hope and practical help in this book guide you in your quest for a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).

Yours in the Lords hope,

FRIENDSHIP

Iron Sharpening Iron

Imagine a young man who has it all. He comes from a powerful family and is heir apparent to the family fortune. Everyone knows that one day he is destined to take his fathers place as head of the business. Fortunately, he has the temperament and giftedness to fill his fathers shoes.

Yet this talented son is willing to sacrifice everything for another capable manhis closest friend whom he believes is the right choice to run the empire. Where there could be contention, there is instead undying commitment. His extraordinary decision is unprecedentedunparalleled. Where there could be rivalry, there is genuine respect. In truth, David is Gods anointed, and his friend Jonathan does everything possible to support the one who will rightfully rule, including protecting David from his own jealous father, the reigning King of Israel.

Jonathan is willing to sacrifice everythingeven the thronefor the higher good of his friend. He enters into a covenant friendship with the man God has chosen as king, and he intends for their sworn oath of friendship to have an impact for generations to come.