"My Best Friend"

Most people my age (16) have a wonderful best friend. You know the kind that call your parents mom and dad, the kind who call you before they call anyone else about anything, the kind that still have the shirt they borrowed from you last year. Everyone wants a best friend. Someone to hold you, someone to stay on the phone with you till you fall asleep after a tough day. A best friend is like a life jacket in a lake. They keep you up, they make things easy, and they make you feel safe. People without life jackets have to work to keep themselves from sinking, it's harder for them to get from place to place and they feel that they have no security. Most people that don't have a best friend say it's because nobody likes them. That's not true, they (and I) didn't realize that there was a best friend waiting for them all along.
I've alwasy had a great best friend. We would laugh until we started crying from the pains in our side. We always held hands wherever we went, we had cool secret handshakes, we talked about boys together, we were totally inseperable. You couldn't say my name without saying hers too, and you couldn't say her name without adding mine somewhere. Life was good. What more could a girl ask for? I had everything I wanted.
On November 11, 2004 I went to a convention with my youth group. I was excited, but I was sad because my best friend couldn't come along. She went to a different church. So we were seperated for a whole weekend. I ended up getting saved and surrendering my life to Christ that weekend. I was so excited to go home and tell my friend about what happened. I was totally on fire for God! I finally caught up with her and told her all about my weekend, and how God touched my heart. She was excited for me too! We jumped around and squeeled for a while and then went to hang out. Since my salvation was so new, I had no idea how to be a Christian.
I started listening in church and asking questions. I also started to notice a growth in my Christianity through reading the bible and prayer. My friend was still happy for me, but I started noticing that our relationship was dying. She said we were still cool, but I knew something was up. I continued to seek God and stared to listen to the Holy Spirit more. I changed my music selection to Christian and stopped swearing. I started to get a really big heart for other people and was really in tune with right from wrong. I was in love with Jesus. I think my friend noticed my transformation because she decided that we shouldn't be best friends anymore and her and our other friend stopped talking to me. I now had no friends.
I wasn't exactly happy with my new life after that. I soon came into some family problems and really struggled with life. Jesus was a part of my life, but I didn't trust him. I didn't trust anybody. I was alone and I was hurting. I used to be the most popular girl in my class along with my friend. Now people didn't want to even be around me. None of my friends wanted to be with me.
I would cry myself to sleep at night. I missed my life jacket. I was drowning without it. Although I felt there was no hope for me I decided to go to a camp. It was a church camp and I felt that I would be accepted there. My life changed almost as much as it did when I got saved, at that camp. I learned how to be a good Christian and I got to be with a bunch of people who loved God like I did. When I was at that camp Jesus spoke to me. I was laying at the altar when he finally reached my heart. He sent me an image. It was of me in a lake. I was frantically chasing after this life jacket, but the harder I swam the farther the life jacket floated away. I soon became weary and started sinking, but as soon as I started to go down I saw a hand reach down for me. It was Jesus! He said, "take my hand Brittany." I of course reached up to him and to my surprise I was standing in a boat! I was no longer in the water.
Jesus has always been willing to be my best friend. He's been following me around with a boat while I was frantically searching for a life jacket. I've never felt so stupid in my life. There is a God who loves me and wants to be with me, but I was too busy chasing a life jacket to notice. Jesus became my best friend at that camp, and when I cam home I had the courage to tell my old friends about God. I had a new best friend, a new comforter, I had a boat. I was sure of my faith and trusted my savior. That made my witnessing effective. I soon had all my friends coming back to me. They all wanted me to hang out with them. There were life jackets floating all around me, but I didn't want to leave the boat. Jesus helped me to see that my best friend wasn't a good influence on me and would bring me down spiritually. The first sacrifice I ever made for God was my friends. I had to let them go. It's not like I was mean to them or anything. I just didn't let them influence me, I didn't hang out with them or participate in the wrong things we used to do together. I just loved them like Jesus. I tried to set a Godly example and I tried to help them see the light.
Today God has blessed me with lots of Christian friends. I have a ton of encouragment. My old friends are still a part of my life, but not as best friends. I've actually got to lead two of them to the Lord and have helped many grow spiritually. Jesus remains my best friend and is by far the best anyone could have. Our friendship and love towards each other can't be described with words. I am continually maturing in the Lord and have been used to help others with the struggles I went through. Jesus is the boat in my life! I would drown without him. I can't imagine my life without this relationship. It's the one thing the world can't take away. Jesus is my best friend, and nothing will ever change that!

P.S. Have you ever tried watching a movie with Jesus? Someday just invite him to watch a movie with you. Start doing it everytime you watch a movie, it's actually really cool. It helps me know what movies are ok to watch, and it helps me stay away from the ones that aren't. I never watch a movie without inviting Jesus. If you can't invite Jesus to watch the movie, it probably isn't worth watching. If you can't invite Jesus to the party, you shouldn't be there either. If you couldn't say those words to Jesus, you probably shouldn't have said them to that person. You can learn a lot by including Jesus in your everyday decisions! Worked for me! Let him decide if the outfit looks good, don't put your confidence in people. Let Jesus be the best friend of your life.