I want to tell you the story of one of my friends. I'll call her "Marie". Marie was several years older than me, but I looked up to her and admired her fervently. She was an example for me and I tried to watch and sometimes copy her every move. I doubt she knew that.
But last year, Marie ran off to be with a guy she meet over the internet, she didn't tell her parents she was leaving. It crushed me. I had just seen Marie the week before and she had seemed normal and cheerful. I had thought Marie was a strong Christian girl, one I could look up to and imitate without fear. She was the last person I would have thought would do anything like this. And then, Marie ran off and did this.
My confidence in Marie was shaken. Everything she had ever told me was reexamined and I was afraid to trust anyone for a while. This was the power of a broken friendship. I had thought of her as a sister and it felt like utter betrayal of my trust in her. I doubt she knows that, or ever will know the impact her leaving had on me.
I know that Marie's leaving was not personally about me, but it might as well have been. It was painful. It still is. Marie has now, a long year later, reconcilled with her parents. But not before she married the guy.
Marie's leaving forced me to think about the example that I am setting for other girls. Maybe I only see them for a week or two, but they set me up as an example and look up to me. What legacy am I leaving with them? How do they see me acting?
I want others to always see Christ in me, through all my deeds, words, and attitudes. I want to be a shinning example of Christ's light. I must think carefully about what impression I am giving others about Godly Womanhood. About Christianity. About Jesus.
I know that my relationship with Marie will never be the same. It took me a while to forgive her. If we ever meet again, I am praying that God will enable me to be gracious and loving to her.
But regardless of my relationship with Marie, I am praying that, by God's grace, I will not crush a young girl's trust in me. I pray that I will be a trustworthy example of Christ.
