Goodness...

My Husband is a good, no actually a truly great man, hindered only by sin (which it turns out is kind of a big deal). Yet he continues to be a wonderful and loving man despite this heavy burden. His patience with me this past weekend, and genuine love has made me realize even more how blessed I am to have him. He has been becoming such a good friend to me lately, sometimes in marriage it is so easy to be distracted by "living married" and all that this means to the extreme of forgetting WHO you're married to, and why you're even in this relationship. Because of him I am learning so much about who I am to be in Christ, and the type of relationship that I should be fostering in Christ. It is so good.
My Sister is a blessing to me. I did not choose her, in fact for years I despised the fact that she had been born to be my shadow, and yet she has been one of the best influencers of my life. Who she is challenges me to be a better version of myself. She loves me unconditionally and always has, even when I did not even care about her. Because of her I have seen love in action as no one else can show it to me. I got to spend some time with her this week and as always was blessed by her gentle and quiet spirit, it was good.
My Friend is a woman who has three children, and a busy life but always squeezes me in when I'm around. I am always simply swallowed into her life when I'm with her. On every level she is vulnerable, and open emotionally, spiritually, relationally and I love it. I sense that she is never any less herself with any person, and in fact she encourages them to be more themselves as Christ intends them to be. It is such an encouragement to watch her with her equally mature Christian husband as they interact with their children, and others in a way that you know Christ must be pleased. Because of her I aspire to be more than I ever would have thought possible, not only because of who she is, but because of who she really believes that I am and can be.
There are so many other people who have influenced, and changed me. People who have been like 'iron sharpening iron' to me, but these three are probably the most influential of all time in my life, and I spent time with them all this week... which ultimately means that this was a good week... a blessed time, and I'm grateful.