Godly friends are indispensable in tough times. They become transporters of God’s comfort into our lives.

“All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy!

God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times,

and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going

through hard times so that we can be there for that person just

as God was there for us.” II Corinthians 1:3,4 MSG

 As I’m typing these words to you this morning, my oldest son Wes is checking into the hospital for his second open heart surgery in eleven years. A repaired mitrol valve has gone totally south and after a full year of procedures from ablations to ‘jump starts’ to dwindling energy it’s time for a new valve.

For any who have gone through times like this, you probably know the drill… lots of prayer, loads of ‘faith building’ Scriptures, attempts at tidying up your emotions to make them easier to carry. You put on your ‘got this’ face, keep telling God that you are giving Him all of it and yet – there seems too much stuff to fit in your life’s backpack.

So where does that leave us?

Still believing in God’s care. Still working on our ‘truster’ 24/7. Still keeping it all together and then remembering where you’ve put it all.

But most of all… still relying on friends, family and our spiritual family to say those incredibly powerful words into our lives: “We’re praying for you!”

Just words? Hardly, because those telling you and writing to you all have a history of a relationship with God. They are people who have been where you are and now on the backside of the thing that at one time loomed over their entire lives.

Their words tell a consistent story of God’s faithfulness and care. Their once broken hearts have been healed. Their despondency has again become joy and their testimony refutes your suspicion that nobody else has ever felt like you do at this moment.

C.S. Lewis once said that a friend is born when one person says to another, “What, you too? I thought I was the only one.”

To you our friends and the friends of yours who have taken time to pray for the Walterman family… thank you. You have and are showing us the Father’s heart and your hearts are showing beautifully as you do.