Side By Side, Indeed

Tuesday nights are a sacred time. A lot of life gets shared on Tuesday nights around here.

Over the course of the last 5 years, I have been privileged to sit in many a living room – or, on occasion, offer up my own living room – to bask in divine Scripture mixed with emotion mixed with life application mixed with friendship mixed with questions and care and concern. Sweet treats and hot tea. Joyful laughter and tears of frustration. Stumblings and victories. Accountability without judgment.

Side by Side is a unique blessing. Comprised primarily of women whose husbands are in pursuit of careers as physicians, it offers the welcome opportunity for some uniquely rich conversations. To me, one of the amazing things about Side by Side is that the unifying factor isn’t identical faith backgrounds or a specific local church affiliation, but moreover, it’s the Mayo Clinic and the simple fact that our husbands work or study there. And yet we find each other. From different walks, with varied experiences, we come together and profess that Jesus is Lord, and we seek after Him side by side. We seek to ignite our homes with passionate faith. We discuss how best to serve in our marriages, our jobs, our roles as mom or sister or daughter. We pray for each other and our families. We come in our sweats and happily bounce each others' babies.  Sometimes we arrive late or get pulled away early because a pager went off at home and whisked our husbands into action. We don’t have to explain – we get it.

We talk about topics that might be socially taboo in other circles. Marriage roles. Money management. Social responsibility. Church investment. Biblical history and character profiles. Counter cultural faith perspectives. And our precious babes (not a particularly taboo topic…. but worth including because there have been a lot of babies this year!)

In our SBS group in particular, we undertook a journey in which we individually journalled our way through personal study of books of the Bible, and it has resulted in remarkable transparency. Through sharing these entries, I have learned so much about each gal. Some musings are comical – some are poignant – many, many, many have taught me more about Christ and opened my eyes to a new way to look at Scripture. And some are full of questions that we cannot answer but must use as a chance to encourage one another in faith.

Side by Side is a staple in my spiritual diet, Not to mention, it’s fun and relaxing and stimulating and uplifting. I am partly the wife and mom and person that I am because of the influences of these friendships, and I am indebted to it. My time in Rochester would have been drastically and unfortunately different if not for this gathering, and I think I will forever give Tuesday nights a special nod. The Lord will provide again in AZ, I have no doubt at all, but I have to express the deep thanks I feel for his provision here first. Oh, what a treasured time it has been.  THANK YOU to the ladies, current and past, who I am blessed to know in this venue.  You made a difference in my life.

 

Ashley & McKenzie

Julia

Karley

Carli and little Evelyn

Beth & Nikki

 

Catherine & Kamber