001 Why You Need a Soul Sister

Join Pam as she chats about the 4 reasons you need a Soul Sister in your life! 

  1. They are with us when we need comforting.
  2. They lead us towards repentance.
  3. They encourage us and hold us up, and they lead us in wisdom.
  4. They are there for a purpose.

I believe that God intentionally plants them in our lives so that we can be guided so that we can have that human connection so that we can truly have a community in a healthy way. Please do not misunderstand this, there is no one that is perfect. Your soul sisters will not be perfect. And just as much as they are comforting and leading and encouraging, you should be doing the same. 

Transcription

Welcome to the Soul Sister Podcast with Pam Bailey, grab a cup of coffee sister, and let’s sit and chat about all of the things that lead us to a Christ-centered life full of purpose and joy. Hi, sisters its Pam welcome to my first ever podcast, I cannot believe that I am here in this moment with each of you who are joining me. It just seems so surreal, and my heart is so grateful. Today, I want to discuss the meaning behind soul sisters, and why I chose to name that from our discipleship groups, as well as this podcast. I want to give you a glimpse into Pam’s life, and why that term or that phrase is so important to me.

So, to get started I want to ask you a question. Have you ever met someone and instantly you thought to yourself, gosh, I just want to be her friend? And now here you are, 10 years later and you can tell me about how amazing she is. How great your friendship has been for 10 years, and how you really just cannot live without her. I call those kinds of relationships, my soul sisters, today I want to talk about what they are and why you need soul sisters, in your life. If you know me at all, or you’re just meeting me for the first time, I want to tell you that more often than not, I have a Bible verse, for what we are going to discuss and just in general. If you’re on my front porch with me right now, there would be some theology talks and a Bible verse, because those are things that just rock Pam’s world, they get me excited for conversation. So, in our chats together on the soul sister podcast, I’m going to bring out a lot of scriptures. And of course, Soul Sisters if you might have guess came from the Bible, in first Samuel 18, we have the story of David and Jonathan meeting for the first time. 

Now I have to give a little bit of a background so that this story makes even more sense. So, this is Pam’s abbreviated version of the Bible. I think it’s pretty good but here we go. David was a small shepherd boy. And one day he decided to deliver food to his brothers who were fighting with the Israelites against the Philistines. And he noticed that there was a giant named Goliath. That was wreaking havoc on the army and everyone was scared, and no one wanted to face, Goliath. David was like, I’m down with that, I can do it. Let me show you how. Long story short, David defeats Goliath. Goliath is dead. The Israelite army has a victory. As you can imagine, when this battle has been going on for so long in this random shepherd boy comes out of the left field, and defeats the enemy, there’s going to be some celebrating. So, David is very quickly rushed to the palace, before the first king of Israel, and his name is Saul.

As he is in the court of the palace and he’s talking with the king and describing all things and how this just went down, Saul’s son, Jonathan takes note of David. This is their first interaction, their first meeting their first encounter. And suddenly, Jonathan notices something about this kid. That he just wants in his life. I’m going to read you the Scripture. First Samuel 18, one through five. As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Ans Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house, then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him. So that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servant. 

The most interesting thing that jumps out in this scripture one, I mean this is their first meeting, so it just seems so sudden. But the most interesting thing that happens in this passage is that Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. There’s something very deep, very intentional very purposeful. That happened in this encounter, their soul was knit together. And as we know as the story continues in First Samuel, we get a glimpse of how special their relationship is. And we see situations in which Jonathan’s own father Saul wanted to kill David. But Jonathan offered him protection wisdom and guidance. Friends I have a circle of women that surround me, and if we were to put all of them together and I could introduce you to each one of these special ladies in my life. I would most certainly say, Hey, these are my soul sisters. I truly feel like our souls are knitted together, and you ladies know how this goes, we laugh, we cry, we go deep in the word we hold each other’s hands we pray for one another. We do silly shopping and vacations and all of the things. We do all of the things that wonderful friends do, but it’s just something a little bit more. I truly feel like my soul is knitted to theirs. 

Now, today, I want to talk about why I think you need a soul sister

  1. They are with us when we need comforting. When we look at the story of Job and we’re familiar with the tragedy that struck Job’s life at the beginning of that book Job 2 11 It says now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him. They came each from his own place they made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. Like all of Job’s friends recognize that there was a tragedy, something deeply significant that was hurtful and painful in Job’s life. And they each came from places that were of different origins and different distances. And together, they said, we want to sit with our buddy, and we want to show him comfort. Galatians 6 22 says to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, our soul sisters are there with us, when we need comforting. 
  2. They lead us towards repentance and friends this is so incredibly hard because the last thing that any of us want to do, is to tell someone, hey, I honestly love you. I love you so much to say. Don’t get stuck in this place, and it’s not just any place, but it’s a place that leads you away from Christ. And so, because I love you. I want to say to you, don’t go down this route, don’t continue. Proverbs 27 5 through 6 says better is open rebuke than hidden law. Faithful are the wounds of a friend profuse are the kisses of an enemy, our friends love us enough to lead us towards repentance, verse 17 In Proverbs 27 says, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens and influences the Amplified Version, I love it, and influences another through discussion. Our soul sisters are specific women in our lives that not only pray with us and comfort us and provide us with sympathy, but they are with us to walk down the trails, of life to say Hey, friend. I’m going to sharpen iron with you, and together we are going to passionately pursue the word of Christ. Passionately pursue holiness in obedience and passionately, be with one another when we need correcting. Oh, my goodness if that’s not the hardest thing. 
  3. They encourage us and hold us up. So not only are they leading us towards repentance, but this is done in a very special way. They encourage us and hold us up. First Thessalonians 5 11 says Therefore encourage one another and build one another up Romans 12 10 says, love one another with brotherly, I’m going to say Sisterly Affection outdo one another in showing honor, and then Ecclesiastes 4 10 says, for if they fall. One will lift up his fellow, but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. 
  4. They lead us in wisdom. Proverbs 13 20 and this is the amplified verses says through pride and presumption come nothing but strife, but skillful and Godly wisdom is with those who welcome well advice counsel. Sisters, here’s the thing. In order for these women to help guide me in life and be so special in that my soul is knitted to theirs, I have to recognize that they are also trying to lead me and wisdom and that that wisdom comes from God, and the more time that they spend in God’s word and the more time that they spend in relationship with Christ, that they are going to lead me well in wisdom. I also have to open up my ears and listen, Jonathan and David were an example of a truly special and God-honoring relationship. Jonathan was there to give wisdom to David. He protected him from his own father. If you go back in First Samuel, and we go a little bit further into the history of David and Jonathan together, we can look at Saul’s delusions and his attempts to kill both of them his own son and David. 

And Jonathan was always there to protect and lead him in wisdom. Their last time together was in chapter 23 where it says that Jonathan strengthens his hand, in God. That’s what Jonathan did for Davis, he made another commitment to stick beside him and encourage him, the ending of Jonathan and David is kind of sad. We know that Jonathan loses his life on the battlefield next to this father, but his heart was committed to his friend and his soul brother. And I think about their initial meeting together. And there are some things that really stuck out for me they just kind of jumped off the page and it wasn’t even that Jonathan felt his soul was knitted, it was the actions that Jonathan took at that point, he took off his robe and took off his armor. He gave them to David and sisters, if you think about that for a second, Jonathan was the firstborn of Saul. 

He could have easily been next in line for kingship, it took off. The things of himself that mattered. He took off the things of himself that were prestigious and gave him positions. He says to David. And granted, he doesn’t say these words. But as he’s passing along these sayings. He’s essentially saying, I don’t have to be king, and I recognize that you are something so precious. And I’m also going to protect you, and here’s my armor. What an incredible, incredible friend he was all because he felt that his soul was knitted to David. When I asked you the opening question if you’ve ever met someone and you just knew that you wanted to be their friend. It’s because often these soul sisters come into our lives, just that way. It’s like our first chance encounter with them and we’re just like, wow, like you are just something different, a breath of fresh air, and man, I just really want to have you in my life. And honestly, we don’t even have conversations with ourselves, but it just, overcomes us in a moment that there is something so different about this person that you know what they’re actually worth pursuing a friendship with. 

Sisters, I want to remind you again, why you need soul sisters, they are with us when we need comforting. They lead us towards repentance. They encourage us and hold us up, and they lead us in wisdom. They are there for a purpose. I believe that God intentionally plants them in our lives so that we can be guided so that we can have that human connection so that we can truly have a community in a healthy way. Please do not misunderstand this, there is no one that is perfect. Your soul sisters will not be perfect. And just as much as they are comforting and leading and encouraging, you should be doing the same. 

Thank you for listening to my first podcast about soul sisters, and why I chose that name. I have some very special soul sisters in my life. And right now, as I’m recording this podcast like their images are popping up in my mind, and they know who they are. I don’t have to say them out loud. And so, to my soul sisters who are listening, I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, they are pushing me to be the best version of Pam possible and I know that I have not arrived. And more than anything. Thank you for loving me and moments that I know that I was not lovable. Thank you to everyone else, thanks so much for listening today, you can connect with me on Instagram and Facebook at Jesus and Pam. And if you are loving this first podcast, I would be so honored if you would go ahead and hit that subscribe button. And leave me a review. Until next time ladies keep worshipping and finding joy in every moment.

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