I See God in You: Sheridan Treadwell
There are dozens of people that will play important roles in our lives throughout different stages of our lives.
I can think of so many moments in which God placed the perfect person in the perfect place at the perfect time to give me exactly what I needed: a sweet compliment, a powerful encouragement, a shoulder to cry on, a warm hug, a strong reminder.
There are so many people in my life who have helped me see different aspects of God's character with greater clarity- people who have reminded me of Christ through their own characters and personalities.
And there is such great beauty in the fact that God can counsel us or reveal His love for us through the people around us.
He can do it through our parents, our friends, our roommates, our soul mates.
Remarkable people exist all around us, and I want to praise God for that, so thus begins my little series of "I See God in You."
In celebration of her 23rd birthday today, this one goes out to my gal pal, my Big, my roommate, and one of my very best friends, Sher.
I met Sheridan three years ago during my first year of college. I turned around during Big/Little reveal to discover this wonderful blondie was my Big! Instantaneously, I knew, she was fab and she loved me. It literally spewed out of her, and she hasn't stopped showing her love since then!
Three years later, I get to share the cutest little apartment with her, spending most of my evenings giggling about YouTube videos, watching Gilmore Girls and making an endless amount of Target trips with her.
She is definitely one of the friends it is easiest to be my most girly and silly self around. With her, there's no need to hold in my chatty rants or my overly excited voice. She just joins right in with my silly self.
When I'm with her, I feel so unapologetically myself. She doesn't simply put up with my quirks, she loves me for them!
And what a sweet reminder that the Lord didn't just create us, but He LOVES us. He loves us- quirks and all!
Sheridan has shown me His tender love time and time again. There are countless ways she has edified me, encouraged me, and comforted me. One of the sweetest little things she did for me was two years ago, when my mom was going through breast cancer. I was struggling through a season of depression, and she brought me a note with this verse from Matthew 6:
"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
Attached to the note was a little bottle of peppermint oil to rub on my temples "for those yucky headaches that happen after a good cry." It was the tiniest gift, but it meant the world. Her gift of sweetness reminded me that even in the darkest times, the Lord valued me and could bring comfort to me.
On the week of my 21st birthday, I walked in on Monday and she had set up a banner and balloons in our kitchen to celebrate my birthday week. On the day of my birthday, when my birthday plans didn't work out, and I was getting ready to just spend an evening alone on my birthday, she dropped everything to take me out for a fancy, girly and fun evening instead. Like she does every day, she made me feel incredibly celebrated.
The truth is, everything she is does is so genuinely saturated in care. She's the friend that always builds me up, and even in all the little ways she loves on me daily, like complimenting my makeup or my outfit, she never ceases to make me feel valued and important to her.
She makes me feel pretty and fierce, and strong. She is constantly encouraging me, and most of all, she helps me better understand God's tender care for me.
See, God's care for us is also so incredibly sweet.
He loves us even when we feel like we're being "too much."
He's right there by our side, cheering us on, giving us His strength when we feel like giving up on everything.
Every single day, He is there, ready to listen and extend encouragement.
He delights in us.
Sheridan reminds me of these truths through her crazy sweet soul. She truly is the most caring friend I know.
It's no wonder her Instagram handle is @sher_ing_is_caring.
Sheridan, you're a precious friend to me.
I hope you know how precious you are to the Lord too.