I am Lauren Basham and my best friend is Lori Cosby. I asked her about what she struggles with most in life and she answered….,”So, I think my biggest struggle in life would be long suffering. I get annoyed by little noises and things and I make the same noises and stuff but I expect others not too, which I shouldn’t. I try hard to work on it but it’s really hard for me. And also I want everyone to like me; it can be a good and bad thing but I mean I just care what people say about me and I take everything personally.”

My answer to her was…

                  Dear best friend,

             I love you so much and I want to help you with your struggles in every way to help you. You told me that one of your biggest struggles was long suffering!! Don’t we all struggle with this? Here’s my advice, practice and pray but mostly pray because God will always provide for us what we need and always help us in times of need. “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19. We all have our flaws and aren’t perfect! I’ll pray with you if you ever need me too. You also told me that you struggle with wanting everyone to like you. A lot of people struggle with this and some people tear themselves down because of it. Lori, don’t care what people think because odds are that they are jealous of you and best friend if someone doesn’t like you for who you are then they are really missing out on a blessing God is trying to give them. You are the sweetest, kindest, most loving person I’ve ever met and if someone can’t see that then they are blind. I’m always here for you if you need anything. I love you to the moon and back best friend.

                                                                                   Love, 

                                                                                          Lauren 

I am Lori Cosby and my best friend is Lauren Basham. I also asked her about her struggles and she said….,”Well my biggest struggle is probably like loving myself and thinking I’m beautiful since I care what others think about me and I want everyone to like me and it’s also kind of hard for me to feel like a good Christian, sometimes even a good person.”

My answer to her was…

                  Dear best friend,

             First of all, I want to tell you that I LOVE YOU! Secondly, (and most importantly) God loves you! God made you in His own image and that makes you so special. “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” Genesis 1:27. Society has created an image of what “beautiful” is, but each and every person is beautiful to God. He does not base His love on how much we weigh, how tall we are, what kind of clothes we wear, or the kind of house we live in. As Christians we need to lift one another up and show love towards one another (1 John 4:11). God loves you so much he sent his only son to die for you!! That is the greatest love of all, and you are worthy of all that love (1 John 4:10)!! Knowing how much you are loved by God and many others, always love yourself and the beautiful person God created you to be!!! Another powerful thing you can do to help this is to pray about it! God does hear the prayers of the righteous and will give you the strength to help through this struggle! “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous” Proverbs 15:29. You are worth so much and NEVER let anyone tell you otherwise. You are inwardly and outwardly beautiful the way God made you!!!

                          Love,

                              Your Bestie

We both hope that even though we wrote these to each other that you all gained something from it because everyone is so beautiful and you are even more beautiful with Christ in you!!