Raise your hand if we can be friends! :)🤪🙋🏼‍♂️ It can be very hard to make friends and find your core group in a new city! I think I am starting to find mine. I think often of my friends back home and sometimes wish they were here with me. At the same time, it is exhilarating being in a new city where no one really knows who you are! Kelly O’Dell Stanley writes that Friendship gives you a chance to try out who you want to be. You get to practice acceptance. You get to learn what your best traits are and face your weaknesses. Meeting new people provides an extra opportunity to practice the things that matter in relationships. Abiding friendship is about pointing each other to God who never fails us, and believing that God often answers our prayers through the words of our friends. We’re commanded to love each other in the same way he loved us, so I can’t help but think there’s a measure of Jesus in the making of new friends. It’s not easy, but if you want to spend time on a relationship, chances are there is something you can change or remove to make room for it. Love one another! By doing so, you’ll brighten the life of anyone you’re involved with, and as you practice living the way Jesus taught, you’ll see more of him in your friends, and they’ll see more of him in you. Dear Lord, teach me to love others the way you first loved me. As I build relationships with others, let them see you in the extent of my generosity, the authenticity of my kindness, and the depths of my love. All of those things are only possible through you, the God who abides with me and calls me friend. Amen. 📸 - @madeleinejohnsonphoto