 Photo by cottonbro studio “Friends who become family create a sense of home wherever we go. They are the constants in our ever- changing lives. (Unknown) What would we do without friends? Some friends in our lives we consider to be acquaintances. They could be neighbours, colleagues, school friends or perhaps friends from your past. These people are important to us, but we do not often know them on a deeper level. Then there are those very special, exceptional people in our lives who go way beyond our definition of friendship. They change our lives in such profound ways that they have become our “chosen family.” These chosen few are the brothers from another mother, sisters from another mister, kindred spirit type of friends. Do you have some of those? I hope so. If you have some of those friends, consider yourself very lucky. These fine people are there for us through it all. When times get tough, they don’t walk out. Instead, they walk in, grab the Kleenex, hug us tightly, put the coffee on, and settle in for a good, long visit. These friends make an imprint on our hearts, and in our hearts is forever where they will stay.  Last year, I had a grade change at work. Normally, I teach second or third grade, but that year I was asked to take a 4/5 split class. It was a very rewarding experience for me and a great chance to grow as a teacher, teaching in the junior division. Every day we do Poetry Book time in Language Arts. Sometimes we have seasonal or funny poems and sometimes we have songs that we learn and study. At the beginning of the year, I introduced a song called Chosen Family sung by The One Voice Children’s Choir. I am totally obsessed with this group and love all their material but, this song is on a whole new level. My class quickly fell in love with this song, as did I and it just naturally became affectionately known as our class theme song. The song helped us bond as a class and reminded us that at school we are a class family, and we should always strive to act like one. This year, I thought I would introduce the song once again and much to my delight it was once again a HUGE hit! The kids ask to sing it constantly and every time I am away, and a supply teacher comes in, I have them sing it for the supply teacher. It is very touching and hard to keep a dry eye I tell you when they put their hands on their hearts and sing about being “chosen family.” Witnessing the sincere and heartfelt performance of this song is and will continue to be one of my most powerful moments as an elementary teacher.  Our family is blessed to have several people who fall into the “chosen family” category. One such person for me is my dear friend, Joni. Joni and I had been acquaintances for quite a while, but God brought us together to be so much more to each other through a special project. I had written my first book called Magic Kisses. It is a book about a young girl named Molly who finds hope and healing after dealing with the loss of her father. The manuscript sat on my computer for many years, as I was confused about how to bring it to life with pictures. I had long been an admirer of Joni’s beautiful photography skills, so I approached Joni to ask if she might consider taking photographs of a beautiful family who agreed to act as the characters in the book. Joni accepted with enthusiasm, and immediately became as passionate about my book as I was. Since the publishing of Magic Kisses, Joni has become my confidant, prayer partner, and dear friend that I can call on day or night for support. She knows me so well that she can tell by the mere sound of my voice, from the first greeting, how I am feeling. With open arms, she invites me into safe conversations where I can be myself and truly share my heart. I will be forever grateful that our initial collaboration blossomed into such an amazing and lasting friendship.  To purchase Magic Kisses click here. Joni is just one example of chosen family I have been blessed with. I am very involved in my incredible church, LakePoint Family Church and many church members there are my "chosen family" as well. No matter what I am dealing with, I can request to get the prayer chain going and know that they are sending support and prayers up for me immediately. They truly have my best interests at heart, and I am so extremely blessed to be a part of such a loving and compassionate church. I feel so happy and proud to have them in my corner. Often, I reflect on how amazing it is to have not only a wonderful family of my own, but so many dear friends as well. My heart is truly so full. But what about those who don’t have that? What about those who don’t have ANY friends and feel they are alone? One such person like that, we will call “Jim.” Jim was in a 12-step therapy group I was running in my role as a clinical social worker before I was a teacher. Jim would often share his extreme loneliness and hurt from his past and share how much our group had come to mean to him. One especially painful memory he shared was he had never had a birthday party growing up. Not because his parents couldn’t afford one, but because he was told from day one, he was a “mistake and not worth celebrating.” For this reason, he was dreading his upcoming birthday because of all the past hurts that went along with so many unacknowledged birthdays. It still brings a tear to my eye just recalling this story. One day, when Jim was unable to come to the group, we discussed what he shared. As he had said, his birthday was coming up soon, we decided that we would throw him a little surprise party complete with gifts and cake. We were giddy with excitement knowing what this little gesture would mean to him. Imagine his shock when he walked in and realized HE was being celebrated and this party was for HIM! Jim was speechless, emotional and thrilled with his first birthday party ever at 35 years of age. What an honour to be at that party and to be a small part of bringing healing to Jim’s broken heart.  One of my favourite worship choruses is Jireh by Maverick City Music. I love the line that says, “I’m already loved, I’m already chosen.” If you did not realize, we are all invited to be a part of God’s chosen family! Why He cared enough to call us His "chosen family" astounds me every day, but I am so glad He does. God is our heavenly father and trusted friend. He can be the BFF you never had. He can fill a void and provide a level of friendship that no earthly friend could ever fulfill. I appreciate you all so much and I am so grateful to have a chance to remind you of how incredible you are! I trust that my thoughts resonate with you, and you come away knowing that you are truly an incredibly loved and valued person. As always, I welcome an opportunity to continue this conversation, or pray with you! You know where to find me! Until next time, Dana Ephesians 1:4 ~ I am chosen. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. Little Lessons Learned: If you find a great friend, you have hit the jackpot! Tags: chosen family, family, friend, friendship, Christian blog, Christian blogger, definition of chosen family, spiritual guidance
 More on Friendship? Click here for Friends Wanted ASAP Copyright: © 2024 littlelessonslearnedbydana
(Dana Romualdi) Dana Romualdi, the copyright holder reserves all rights to the content on the blog and website Little Lessons Learned by Dana, including the right to reproduce, distribute, and display the content. No content or photographs may be reproduced or modified. Blogs may be shared on social media platforms in their entirety only with full credit given to the owner. Any photographs used by other photographers are used with permission and are also protected. All Rights Reserved.
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