Testimony Tuesday - Transparency

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday. You know this kind of person. The story of your life would be very little story if all the bits that included them were left out.

Today's testimony is a little part of my own God-story. One of the things that God taught me along the way is the value of being vulnerable. And transparent. Like a tree without leaves.

Sounds scary, doesn't it? I thought so, too.

My friend and I had been friends for easily 15 or so years when one day, out of the blue, I realised that our friendship could stay the same, or it could grow. Even after all that time. But the growing meant being brave. Very brave. It meant opening my heart to her. Telling her things that I'd never told anyone before. Being real. Being willing to expose who I was underneath and the bits of myself that I really (really) didn't like at all.

Someone had to go first. I took a deep breath and jumped. I said out loud the things that scared me. The things that made me cry on the inside. The things that made me feel ashamed. My secret hopes and dreams. The ones I barely acknowledged to myself.

And now? I can't not be her friend because she knows too much about me!

Now our friendship is written on so many of the pages of my life. It's scripted in bold, italics, and so many different colours and styles. Our friendship has made my life rich and full. And free. Noone tells you about that. They don't tell you that it sets you free. It makes you whole again. Transparency and vulnerability is part of God's design for true friendship.

James 5:16 says

"Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed."

You can read an awesome story of two friends in 1 Samuel from chapters 18 to 21.