Last week a friend invited me to join her on a 896-mile roundtrip journey from Oregon to California.

She was making the trip to care for a family member following surgery. I would have a chance to spend time with my sister and niece. We would have a chance to check off an item on our respective “To Do” lists – a road trip with a friend.

The trip would require us to spend 16-hours in a car together. But I knew the time would pass too fast. You see friends like her are sisters in disguise. And time spent connecting and sharing your heart is a gift.

We planned our departure, 7 AM sharp.

I picked her up at the top of the hour and for the next 50 minutes, we played tag trying to say goodbye to friends, leaving little tokens on doorsteps, sharing uncontrollable laughter as we navigated through roundabouts and expressway on-ramps.

Finally, we hit the open road, only to have to pull over 20 minutes out of town – the hood of the car had not been secured during a recent safety inspection. Disaster avoided, we were back on the road.

The roadway unfolded in front of us and with each mile came an invitation to discuss life, solve our most pressing dilemmas, and voice dreams we had never shared before.

There is something so special when you can have an authentic conversation – revealing fears, pain, and struggles and know that they will never go any further than the interior walls of the other person’s heart. There is a cleansing that happens and Satan’s lies and deceptions no longer have a hold on your mind.

Friendships are precious, honor them, and thank God for sisters of the heart.

Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 tells us,

(9) Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. (10) If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. (11) Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? (12) A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

New Living Translation (NLT)

God never intended us to be alone, to walk through life disconnected. We need our husbands, our sisters (biological and chosen), we need our brothers, and we need God’s miraculous presence to make us whole.

Walking life isolated is dangerous. You have no accountability, no one to dispel Satan’s lies, no one to validate that you are precious and valuable in God’s eyes.

Sisters, please don’t try to do life alone. Reach out and take a step towards establishing some healthy friendships. Move beyond your fears and share your heart, be a friend – a chosen sister and experience the blessings of unconditional love and acceptance.

Blessings,

I want to thank the women in my life that I call “chosen sisters.” You are so special to me and I treasure our friendship.