{July 23, 2017}

I have friends. I definitely have friends. I can't say I have very many true friends, but I do have friends.

Whenever a friend leaves me or my life, my mom always says that God places people in our lives to serve a specific purpose at a specific time. Many will come in and out, few will remain, but those that do are the truest of true.

It's a bit scary leaving my friends from college because I believe they are some of the best friends I've ever made. I've known some of them for 2 years, some for less than 1, but the quality of our friendships has been more substantial and meaningful in the relatively short time we've spent together.

I've gotten progressively wiser about who to trust and how to choose my friends, though I have made some mistakes. The world is filled with sin; the sinners of the world disguise themselves with promises of good company and iron confidence, only to turn their backs and reveal that their companionship was nothing more than a ruse. An evil little trick to prey on the weak and the trusting.

I've sat and cried about it, thinking that the friendship in numbers guaranteed me happiness. It turns out that it doesn't. I started to shift my point of view and realized my happiness with friends should be defined by the quality of their characters and our relationships together.

My friends that I have now would do anything for me. We have undying trust in each other, and I know that I could call them at any time of day, and we would just pick up where we left off. My friends have hearts of gold and higher purposes that guide their actions. They make me want to be better.

We inspire, motivate, create, laugh, cry, and celebrate together. Although we don't see each other as often as we'd sometimes like, we know that staying in touch in any form is just as meaningful and special. We savor the moments in each other's company, and we make plans to do it all again as soon as we get the chance.

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." -John 15:13.

My friendship circle might be small, but in my circle, we all hold hands and rejoice that we have each other. We hold tight to each other with all our might because our friendship chain is truly unbreakable.