Friend, You Add Value to My Survival

Dear Friend,
     Thank you for being my friend. You have made a city that was foreign to me not too long ago feel like home. You have given a dimension to my identity that had honestly been missing. With you as my friend, I no longer feel isolated and alone.
     You see, I did not want to move to Louisville 5 years ago. I was very happy living in North Carolina. My parents lived 5 minutes down the road, we were only 45 minutes away from my in-laws, and all of my closest friends were no more than an hour away. I had an identity outside of my husband and child. I loved my job, I loved our home, and I never wanted to move away. After fighting the Spirit for quite some time, I reluctantly submitted to my husband's authority and we moved. I wasn't happy about it and for a very long time I was very lonely.
      When we first moved here I did not have a job and it would be 6 long months before I would find employment. We went to church and I served in the nursery, but we were not plugged into a community group and I did not feel as if I could call any of the women I saw "friends". We spoke casually at church and that was it. I did not feel as if I had anyone I could call up and say, "hey, let's hang out." I felt so alone.
       I became jealous of my husband because he had friends. He had guys that he could go to the movies with or workout with or just have coffee with. I had my son, who was between 1 and 2 at the time, and that was it. Even after I finally got a job, my work friends were just that, friends at work, not people I really hung out with outside of work. My isolation began to effect my marriage. I was not able to vocalize my feelings to my husband so I just bottled them up inside. We fought a lot because I allowed my resentment to pour out into other areas. Many nights I would lay in bed crying because I was so lonely. I lived for the times my family or friends would come for a visit or our sporadic trips home. When I was with people from home I was fully me. I was just waiting for the day Aaron graduated so that we could move back to North Carolina.
      Then I met you. When you became my friend, Louisville didn't seem quite so lonely anymore. When I felt like I had a place outside of my home where I belonged, I no longer felt isolated and alone. When I began to have a life outside of my husband and children, I began to feel whole again. For so long, I was only identified by being Aaron's wife and Eli and Sophia's mom, and while that is wonderful and I love being a wife and mom so much, I had lost a part of myself that only real friends could bring out. I now have women that I can talk to about real issues and who are walking this journey of life with me. It was not until you became my friend that Louisville finally felt like home.
      Having you as my friend as brought "wholeness" into my life. All the parts of myself feel as if they are present once again. Christ is growing me through my friendship with you and I am forever thankful for you. I am blessed to have you in my life.

     C.S. Lewis said, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” (Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-friendship-20-good-scripture-quotes/#ixzz2wMCPemqG)

     You add value to my survival! Thank you for being my friend.