{"id":905,"date":"2021-02-28T13:44:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T12:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905"},"modified":"2021-02-28T14:20:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T13:20:03","slug":"on-the-journey-together-gods-gifts-of-friendship-along-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905","title":{"rendered":"FRIENDSHIPS – GOD’S GIFTS | ON THE JOURNEY TOGETHER."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Of friendships that inspire. It was a very busy morning, running about the orphanage in the hot, Baja Mexico sun making sure everything was ready for the new baby that was arriving that afternoon. We didn\u2019t know much about the new baby except that she had been found abandoned alongside the road. We began to discuss all that needed to be done to make sure this child was adequately taken care of.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we were busy with our own plans, a barely, 5-foot-tall, 32-year-old orphaned woman, with special needs, stepped up to our meeting. Even with limited manual dexterity, she held her hands together tightly in a way she could still fold them. Her voice was soft and hard to understand, yet her smile spoke louder than her words, and we all understood the words she said that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s pray.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She began to encourage` the group of staff to join our hands in prayer. I spent a year with Lupe and watched and learned from this powerful prayer warrior. To this day, she is still one of the strongest, most inspiring women I have ever met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Friendships\"
The gorgeous Lupe.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Along this journey of life, I have come to find that one of the greatest gifts are the people God brings our way. These friends become great encouragers for us in times of need as we journey through life together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Proverbs 27:9b it says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friendships <\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My husband and I moved to the Netherlands when we were newly married as missionaries. Everything was a new experience for us. Like, living in a new country, learning a new language, and let\u2019s face it, pretty much a new everything. I remember in our first year, walking into a Dutch church in the small village of Hillegom. Looking around for a seat, I noticed an open row and walked up and asked the woman sitting there, \u201cIs dit stoel vrij?\u201d (Is this seat open?) I wasn\u2019t sure if I said it correctly in Dutch or not, so I was thrilled when she answered back, with a smile,\u201d Ja zeker!\u201d (Yes, of course.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From that moment on, we were friends. She was in her early 80\u2019s at the time. I would spend time at her home baking with her as she taught me the Dutch language.  Annie has since passed away, but I will always remember how she would say, \u201cGod is good to me\u201d and share how she experienced His faithfulness in her life. She refreshed my soul<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Friendships\"
Julie & the Late Annie.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I love this quote from one of my Dutch heroes, Corrie Ten Boom:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every person put in our path is for a reason and even prepares us for what He has for us in the future. It is His hand in every aspect of our lives that He would send the people He does at the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our two children were both born in the Netherlands. When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter we had moved to a new city and again I was starting to settle in a new place. One Sunday at church, I met a woman named Nellie. We began to get to know one another and believe it or not, she was also pregnant with her daughter at the same time as me. What a blessing that God would put a perfect friend in my path! As our friendship grew, so did our bellies. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Friendships\"
Julie & Nellie both in the 3rd trimester.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the joys of life is the people we meet along the way and share the journey with. Whether it is learning to pray with passion, being mentored, or having a devoted friend in a key season of life. We don\u2019t have to go on the journey alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord says, \u201cI will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you<\/em>.\u201d Psalm 38:2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how many times we move or the different seasons of life we are in, what heartache or joy we may experience, we can live in the confidence that God is guiding us. He shows His care for us by bringing friends to travel along with us on the pathway of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a pathway that I have been blessed to travel with friends like Lupe, Annie and Nellie. Each one has refreshed my soul at just the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.<\/em> Proverbs 27:9b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Friendships\"
Steve and Julie Kramer and their two kids, Kees (\u201ccase\u201d) and Sela (\u201csayla\u201d) have been missionaries to the Netherlands and Oregon for 15 years working in church planting and university ministries. The Kramers now work with CityServe International focusing their efforts on bringing the hope of Jesus to impossible situations and serving the special needs community and their families.
Read about their life and ministry at www.stevekramer.org<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of friendships that inspire. It was a very busy morning, running about the orphanage in the hot, Baja Mexico sun making sure everything was ready for the new baby that was arriving that afternoon. We didn\u2019t know much about the new baby except that she had been found abandoned alongside the road. We began to discuss all that needed to be done to make sure this child was adequately taken care of.   While we were busy with our own plans, a barely, 5-foot-tall, 32-year-old orphaned woman, with special needs, stepped up to our meeting. Even with limited manual dexterity, she held her hands together tightly in a way she could still fold them. Her voice was soft and hard to understand, yet her smile spoke louder than her words, and we all understood the words she said that day. \u201cLet\u2019s pray.\u201d She began to encourage` the group of staff to join our hands in prayer. I spent a year with Lupe and watched and learned from this powerful prayer warrior. To this day, she is still one of the strongest, most inspiring women I have ever met. Along this journey of life, I have come to find that one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":""},"categories":[7,153],"tags":[765,764],"yoast_head":"\nFRIENDSHIPS - GOD'S GIFTS | ON THE JOURNEY TOGETHER. - No Fear, Just Hope<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"no fear just hope is a platform to share God\u2019s truth, hope and love through topics that bring life, joy, awareness, comfort and hopefully some moments of laughter to you\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FRIENDSHIPS - GOD'S GIFTS | ON THE JOURNEY TOGETHER. - No Fear, Just Hope\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"no fear just hope is a platform to share God\u2019s truth, hope and love through topics that bring life, joy, awareness, comfort and hopefully some moments of laughter to you\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"No Fear, Just Hope\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"Julie Kramer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-28T12:44:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-28T13:20:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/main-pic-Kramer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d239acef2601b4cf6aa929b63bd8d6c\",\"name\":\"Nelly\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6f421c4607dd9522c35dceaf1af00df?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6f421c4607dd9522c35dceaf1af00df?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nelly\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#personlogo\"},\"description\":\"My name is Nelly, I am married to an amazing husband , I am mother to an incredible daughter IJ and an angel Olivia Amali. During the 20th week anatomy scan, I was found to have an \\u2018\\u2019incompetent cervix\\u2019\\u2019. This could not be explained as my 1st pregnancy was stable and the baby was even born post EDD. My aim is to raise awareness of incompetent cervix (IC), coping with an IC pregnancy and the various interventions available to avoid pre-term labour. With this page, I hope I can embark on this healing process by writing and sharing my experience and all the aspects we have already experienced with our previous pregnancy with Olivia Amali and finding strength in this journey. In this page, I will talk about this last pregnancy, life with IC, our stay at the hospital, life after being discharged and living a life of continued hope and trust in our God who knows it all. As serious and emotional this story will be, I hope the words brings life, light, joy , awareness, comfort and hopefully some moments of laughter to someone. I hope that this platform will bring encouragement to families, those still waiting for their rainbows after years of fertility treatments, miscarriages, still births, pre-mature deaths and fellow grieving mamas in general especially those who can not find the words to express themselves. I am excited about inviting you to this \\u2018HOPE\\u2019 ful yet terrifying story. Love. Nelly.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\"]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/\",\"name\":\"No Fear, Just Hope\",\"description\":\"Journey through loss and life afterwards.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d239acef2601b4cf6aa929b63bd8d6c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/main-pic-Kramer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/main-pic-Kramer.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Julie enjoying a ride on her husband's tri-cycle.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905\",\"name\":\"FRIENDSHIPS - GOD'S GIFTS | ON THE JOURNEY TOGETHER. - No Fear, Just Hope\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-28T12:44:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-28T13:20:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"no fear just hope is a platform to share God\\u2019s truth, hope and love through topics that bring life, joy, awareness, comfort and hopefully some moments of laughter to you\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FRIENDSHIPS – GOD’S GIFTS | ON THE JOURNEY TOGETHER.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c24b6f073a6c751b5082a762ca002a5d\"},\"headline\":\"FRIENDSHIPS – GOD’S GIFTS | ON THE JOURNEY TOGETHER.\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-28T12:44:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-28T13:20:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":862,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d239acef2601b4cf6aa929b63bd8d6c\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/main-pic-Kramer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"friendship\",\"God's gift of friendship\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Love\",\"Relationships\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?p=905#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c24b6f073a6c751b5082a762ca002a5d\",\"name\":\"Julie Kramer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fae76aad05e5c1f1792184d70362da7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fae76aad05e5c1f1792184d70362da7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Julie Kramer\"},\"description\":\"Julie Kramer, her husband Steve and their two kids, Kees (\\u201ccase\\u201d) and Sela (\\u201csayla\\u201d) have been missionaries to the Netherlands and Oregon for 15 years working in church planting and university ministries. The Kramers now work with City Serve International focusing their efforts on bringing the hope of Jesus to impossible situations and serving the special needs community and their families. Read about their life and ministry at www.stevekramer.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.stevekramer.org\",\"Julie Kramer\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/?author=22\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/main-pic-Kramer.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=905"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":929,"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905\/revisions\/929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nofearjusthope.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}