The Doughnut Mill

I have this friend. We met several years ago under interesting circumstances. I was planning to drive a couple of hours to meet up with friends for a road trip that would take us to a conference in Idaho, USA. The night we were to leave, my car broke down, and I was going to have to cancel my plans to join them, but I got a phone call from a stranger. This stranger told me she would be coming to pick me up the following morning, leaving her house at 3 a.m. on her birthday, so that I would not miss the conference which she had attended prior, and was so encouraged by. Needless to say, this stranger became a very close friend. Although older and wiser, our hearts were knit together by a mutual love for a mutual Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. We have kept in touch over the years, and recently started meeting at a halfway point, which happens to be the Doughnut Mill in what is known as "Gasoline Alley," near Redeer, AB. At the Doughnut Mill, she orders her usual Chocolate Eclair, and I a different doughnut or muffin each time. We share each other's joys and burdens, and then spend some time lifting one another up in prayer. It is a sweet and precious time of fellowship and Sisterhood. I thank God for her. This morning I was mediating on the following passage from Exodus 17:8-16.

"Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand." 10 So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.14 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." 15 And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; 16 for he said, "Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."

This passage reminded me of how this life is a battle in so many ways, but how sweet to go through this life with people who love you and will pray for you and, who in a sense, hold you up in the hard times. If you have a friend like this, give thanks, and if you don't, pray for one. Our great God hears the cries of those who seek Him with their whole heart. The Proverbs (18:24) tells us, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." I am most thankful for the friend I have in Jesus! He is indeed, "a friend of sinners" (Matthew 11:19). He is, "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." (Isaiah 53:3) He is, "a great high Priest, who was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." He invites us to, "come boldly to His throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16) How thankful I am for friends that point me to HIM.