31 Days: Friends Are Family Too

Part 1

My 31 Days posts will be focused on everything family.  What is important to us, how we enjoy spending our time together, and how we share our lives with those around us.

You'll be hearing from some very special people in my life.  Family members and friends.

You know, family is more than the people that you live with, or the family group you were born into.  

Our friends are truly part of our family, and we make sure to tell them that.  We need them to know how important they are to us. Our friends have journeyed with us through some pretty rough times in the past year and a half. They have truly mourned with us and rejoiced with us.  That's not something that is easy to do.

Love these people!

During our times of mourning, Romans 12 became very important in our lives.  It is a passage that tells us how we should live together, treat each other, and how to love one another. Verses 12-15 tell us to be joyful when we go through difficult time and to never neglect our prayer lives.  It, also, teaches us to mourn with one another in difficult times and then rejoice with one another in happy times.  Our friends were able to do that with us.

¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 

Romans 12:12-15

I was ultimately led to start this blog through our time of struggle.  

Creativity is an outlet for me and I wanted to share it. Also, I wanted to share how I work toward creating an environment that nurtures relationships.  It's all about being comfortable and relaxed.  Feeling that you are a part of "my family". 

I want a space to cherish family and friends in. To breathe in and out and be present in every moment that I can with them.

That's important to me.