Sometimes, things just don’t work out.

It doesn’t matter how much effort you put into the relationship. It doesn’t matter what you bought them, what you sacrificed for them. Sometimes, things just don’t work out.

And that’s okay!

There is a time for friendships, and a time to move on from friendships, and a time to make new friendships.

It’s okay, but let’s face it… It’s still hard. So, what are you supposed to do when your friends hate you?

My friends – A Tale of Shorts and Ghosting

I bought a pair of shorts once. They were shorter than the shorts I usually wore, which went down to my knees (at 5’8, with most of that height going to my legs, those are impressively long shorts). It was at a time in my life when I had gained a bunch of weight due to my health and stress. I was 22, and wasn’t feeling that great about myself or my body.

But I looked fine in these shorts, so I bought them.

And my friend immediately called me a very particular word for someone who dresses for a very particular activity that is very frowned upon.

Yikes.

I’ve had many a friendship not work out in my life. Sometimes, because I was tired of being treated poorly, and other times because of something stupid I did or said. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God, after all.

It sucks when a friendship doesn’t work out. It really sucks when you fight with a friend and then wind up not talking to that person ever again. It sucks even more when you don’t think you really did anything very wrong, but suddenly that friend is cold, won’t answer your texts, won’t answer your calls. One day they’re just…gone.

There was a time in my life when I looked around and realized that every friendship ends one day. This was right after I graduated from high school. All the friends I’d made as a teenager were moving on, growing up, getting lives, getting jobs, going to college.

Every Friendship Ends…for a time.

If there’s a time for a friendship to end, then there’s a time for a friendship to be restored…even if that friendship isn’t restored until Jesus comes back and the world is made new.

Listen to me. Friendships are hard. People are silly. We’re stupid and immature, and we get our emotions hurt over things that really don’t matter. We have very little grace for one another and assume other people’s intentions all the time. That friendship that you’re mourning? That friendship you’re struggling with? It’s not over. This isn’t the end of the story.

Yes, it hurts, and it’s allowed to hurt. You’re allowed to mourn it. But I want to give you hope.

One day, you’ll open your eyes. The world around you will be literal perfection, your body made new. The battle is over, the enemy locked away where he belongs. You’ll look up and meet the eyes of that friend—that friend that has caused so much pain, or that you have hurt just as deeply. You’ll meet their eyes, and you’ll both realize at the same time how stupid it was to fight, or how sorry both of you are that it got so out of hand.

Jesus is going to restore all things.

He will make all things new. If all things are new, that must include that broken friendship.

And that is a very good thing. 🙂 So take heart. This hurts right now. That’s okay. Bring that hurt to God, let him comfort you, and then rest in the hope of his promise, that all things will be made new.

God is all about forgiveness and restoration. Maybe it won’t take until Jesus comes back. I’ve seen plenty of times where a friendship that I thought was over was restored! Or maybe, just maybe, that friendship needs to end for a time, so God can bring you different friends for a new season in your life.

It’s not over.

If you liked this blog, check out my friend Vella’s blog on the same topic! Click here.

Lies are hard to fight—especially when you accidentally give those lies life in the form of a mechanical dragon!

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When Lillian secretly builds a mechanical dragon, one mistake leads to another—the strange glowing stones collide with her creation and the dragon roars to life. Lillian must make a choice…lie and keep her dragon a secret or finally face the truth?

Will any of it matter anyway if the town’s already been destroyed?

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