I\u2019ve been reminded in this season what a gift it is to have meaningful friendships. I have been blessed with many great friends in my life\u2014some for just a season, some from childhood, many from college, and some who I know I\u2019ll have forever. But many of those closest friends don\u2019t live in the same place as me. While the days when I was no more than ten minutes away from all my people were a delight, that hasn\u2019t been the reality for quite awhile. Those same friendships now require scheduled phone calls around work and family life. It means intentionally setting aside time and resources to travel in order to be together in person. It means sending gifts in the mail for special occasions or little just-because treats since we can\u2019t drop by in person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, even though many of my people aren\u2019t just down the street, I have experienced such love and care from them from many miles away. Sure, it\u2019s easier to stay in touch with the myriad of ways to be connected these days. But it still takes intentionality and effort to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can\u2019t help but think about the experience Paul might have had shepherding several groups of fellow Christians, even from afar. The letters of Philippians and Colossians are just two glimpses into his pastoral care and affection for these communities of believers. One of them\u2014the church in Philippi\u2014he knew well because Paul himself had established it. Yet for the church in Colossae, he never got to be with them in person. Paul writes that he had deep affection for both, even if they connected differently due to distance and time. But at the heart of his letters, we see that he really wanted the same for all of them: to know more of God and the goodness of His gospel. He wanted it to sink into every nook and cranny of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s also what we want for you as you spend the next four weeks reading through these New Testament letters. May these words, written so long ago to a people far away, be good news for you here and now. Read Paul\u2019s words like you would any timely words of encouragement from a dear friend, gathering the truth to encourage, challenge, and propel you today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve been reminded in this season what a gift it is to have meaningful friendships. I have been blessed with many great friends in my life\u2014some for just a season, some from childhood, many from college, and some who I know I\u2019ll have forever. But many of those closest friends don\u2019t live in the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":71279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philippiansandcolossians"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"related_plans":[71272],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"PAUL\u2019S OPENING WORDS<\/b>
\r\nby Lindsey Jacobi<\/i>
\r\n
I\u2019ve been reminded in this season what a gift it is to have meaningful friendships. I have been blessed with many great friends in my life\u2014some for just a season, some from childhood, many from college, and some who I know I\u2019ll have forever. But many of those closest friends don\u2019t live in the same place as me. While the days when I was no more than ten minutes away from all my people were a delight, that hasn\u2019t been the reality for quite awhile. Those same friendships now require scheduled phone calls around work and family life. It means intentionally setting aside time and resources to travel in order to be together in person. It means sending gifts in the mail for special occasions or little just-because treats since we can\u2019t drop by in person.<\/p>
\r\n
Yet, even though many of my people aren\u2019t just down the street, I have experienced such love and care from them from many miles away. Sure, it\u2019s easier to stay in touch with the myriad of ways to be connected these days. But it still takes intentionality and effort to do so.<\/p>
\r\n
I can\u2019t help but think about the experience Paul might have had shepherding several groups of fellow Christians, even from afar. The letters of Philippians and Colossians are just two glimpses into his pastoral care and affection for these communities of believers. One of them\u2014the church in Philippi\u2014he knew well because Paul himself had established it. Yet for the church in Colossae, he never got to be with them in person. Paul writes that he had deep affection for both, even if they connected differently due to distance and time. But at the heart of his letters, we see that he really wanted the same for all of them: to know more of God and the goodness of His gospel. He wanted it to sink into every nook and cranny of their lives.<\/p>
\r\n
That\u2019s also what we want for you as you spend the next four weeks reading through these New Testament letters. May these words, written so long ago to a people far away, be good news for you here and now. Read Paul\u2019s words like you would any timely words of encouragement from a dear friend, gathering the truth to encourage, challenge, and propel you today.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"1","scripture":"Philippians 1:1-2, Isaiah 26:3, Acts 16:6-15","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}