Irreplaceable You

Recently I had someone tell me who I was.  She gave several details - including the fact that I didn't have the ability to articulate things well, and that's why she noticed I just stayed out of certain arguments.  Wow.

I told Dean about this conversation, and we got a good laugh.  So many of the things she'd described about me were so NOT me!  It gave us the giggles to remember her with her hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes and saying she understood I just wasn't the type to be silly with the kids.  She was trying to hard to be understanding and empathetic, all the while giving me a list of her own attributes and talents.

I also got serious and asked, "Is she right?"  "What part of the whole spiel she threw my way was correct?"  So, even though this particular individual doesn't know me well, she did get me thinking about what is important to me and how I see myself. 

We are all different people in different circumstances and in different relationships.  I think it's worthwhile to realize that that's one reason God gives us relationships.  Certain people bring out aspects of our personality that no one else can:

Sara... my word can we laugh!  No matter how many years span our friendship we connect on this deep foundation of joy.  This is our special gift from God that is different from every other gift of joy I've experienced.  But laughter isn't the only thing that I share with Sara.  The years when I moved from place to place, and never got to put down roots - she was an unshakable support.  One night surrounded by church people, work, and kids, and a vibrant relationship with Jesus, I called Sara up in complete despair.  "Why do I feel SO alone?"  I wailed to her?  That deep place inside that longs to connect with someone was so cold and neglected. 
She could have lectured me on what God was doing in my life - teaching me that He is my everything, and I'm never truly alone.  He was doing that, you know.   But Sara, with all her prophetic giftings, also knew when to leave something alone.  She left that alone.  Instead she quietly said few words: 
"You're deep," she said.  "And you long for depth." 
Her words broke me and I knew that the depth I was longing for would truly only be found as I embraced further intimacy with Jesus. 
With Sara I feel I can laugh uncontrollably and weep in true grief...

Cyndi... she challenges me spiritually and encourages me to go further and higher and deeper, just by watching her pursuit of the holy. 
Some of Cyndi's recent words:
" It will stir within you because deep calls to deep; the Spirit searches all things; even the deep things of God, and He will lead you into all truth and tell you things to come! His promises are so much more literal and less ethereal than we've been taught. "
"You are surrendered when you get active rather than passive- passivity is not trust... "
"exercise your spirit!,and trust; not either or, does that make sense? And don't LET FEAR HAVE ANY SAY OR INFLUENCE- fear adds a what if? Faith adds im certain! "
" the bible is a strategic manual on war! And every saint is at very least a soldier who is to take territory! The gates of hell will not withstand you as you go to war for your children! Including the one you are calling into the kingdom of light out of babylon. Be militant my friend- we are in a war-life and death are in the power of our tongue with our new creation spirit!"
The relationship I have with Cyndi - how she knows me and I know her is so different than any other.  This is an iron-sharpens-iron type friendship.

Joan... always a step ahead of me in this journey of marriage and children.  The things I have learned from Joan! - she's allowed me to make foolish statements and try things, she's tolerated my immaturity and has no idea how I've watched her wrestle to understand her position in Father's eyes, and how to go at spiritual battles through prayer.  We have seen each other two or three times in the past 11 years, and have never been at a loss for conversation.  Somehow we connected deeply in a very short period of time, and then parted ways.  Our lives are so very different - she with two almost-adults, and me with my house still full and getting fuller.  She's been generous to allow me a glimpse into raw family and marriage moments - and it's freed me to share deeply with her.  I know it's all going straight to the cross - not fodder for somebody's gossip inbox.

These are only 3 relationships - and each knows me differently.  I'm sure I only know a limited aspect of all God's created them to be as well. 

My sisters and my mom and the friends from where I live now - they know me differently as well.  
They know I'm absolutely in love with anything Jane Austen
I can't get enough of LMM - especially since my trip to PEI
I felt SO cared about when my husband brought me my 3 top chocolate choices for our anniversary. 
I don't really need cut flowers
I want to know and be known by Father more intimately every day.
I sometimes laugh at other people's pain (like when Dean ran into a tree flying a kite)
I'm crazy about love songs - "All You Can Do is Wait" is my favorite du jour!
When I get to heaven I'll know how to dance in every style
I have chased my kids around the dining room table with salad tongs more times than I can count (we were ALL laughing!)
I do NOT find Napoleon Dynamite-type movies funny.  Just stupid.
I would rather be perceived as a prude & judgemental than risk letting my kids watch/do whatever anybody else is doing
I've climbed up into a McDonald's playplace tunnel and pulled another child down by the ankle who was harassing my kid.
I'd move overseas in a heartbeat if God ever asked me to.

There's no need for Sara or Cyndi or Joan to compete for my friendship. They are irreplaceable individuals that each have a unique spot in my heart (among so many others:). No one is like each of them, and no one relates to me the way they each do.
And so just as we are different in every friendship / relationship, God is experienced differently by each person.  The way I know and relate to Him is different than the way my husband knows and relates to Him.  I LOVE that! 
In "The Shack" the character portraying Father God gets a twinkle in her eye whenever she thinks of any one of her children.  Each one makes her gush, "Oh, I'm particularly fond of him."  "Oh!  I just love her!" 
The author does a wonderful job of showing how every single one of God's children has a unique spot in His heart. There's no need for me to compete for His affections. No one is like each of us and no one can relate to God the way each one of us does.