The Ugly Cry and Trusted Friends

Yesterday I blogged about iron sharpening iron, little did I know that soon I would be experiencing some pretty heated sparks from a run in with someone I care so much about. Isn’t that just like life? I’m not really good at conflict. I typically pick up my skirt and run.

Just a few verses up from the verse about iron sharpening iron is this:
Wounds from a friend can be trusted or faithful are the wounds of a friend.(Prov 27: 6)

But, what if it is hard for you to completely offer that trust? Even worse, what if you are the one who wounded someone? Look, I have been one of the walking wounded. I’ve had my fair share of hurts, but who hasn’t? We are all just one haphazardly strung together verse away from a really bad, cry yourself to sleep, tear in your beer Country song.

True, tough love is better than hypocrisy but it still stings from whatever angle you are coming from. I know grownups still wrestling with their hurts from things that happened decades ago. Please believe me, if I shared all the things I have faced in life you would probably buy me a ticket to “The Dr. Phil Show” just so he could get a serious ratings boost from the “circus freak show” that I lovingly refer to as my childhood.

Some people hide behind a mask and allow you to see only one side of them. I used to be one of those people. I felt the need to be perfectly pleasing and sticky-sweet just so people would like me. But, it went much deeper than that. I wanted people to love me. Don’t get me wrong, I still want people to like me. But the girl who based her self-worth on how others responded to me had to grow up and put on her big girl pants or become eternally medicated to keep up with that exhausting and completely unproductive way of functioning.

God is still in the business of setting the captives free and I would be nothing without His love that caused Him to leave the comforts of heaven to bind up the broken heartedness in me. He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother.

Maybe you have had a day like mine. I’ve cried more than I care to. Put on a brave face when I didn’t want to and was faced with the realization that I’m still a stinking people pleaser who had her craw full. And when the going got tough…I did the ugly cry. You know what, I feel better already!

So to my sweet friend that has been crying all day and going through a major life change, I just want you to know that weeping may endure for a night, but hang on girl because joy comes in the morning. (Ps 30: 5)