Lily Girls Magazine

By Sarah Blanzy

I became a Christian when I was five years old. I was raised in the church, went on mission trips, led small groups, was involved in youth choir, youth group, Sunday School and probably anything else you can think of. But, up until about a month ago, I never had an accountability partner. I never really thought of it as a priority. I always thought I didn’t really have any struggle in my life that caused me to need one. (Yeah, pretty prideful, huh?)

The thing is, a lot of times we don’t realize the struggles we have and the ways we are sinning if we don’t have someone in our lives there to help us see them. The struggles we have may not be as obvious as sleeping with your boyfriend or drinking too much (although they may be) but they may be something we don’t even realize like disrespecting people or being selfish.

Many of you are familiar with Proverbs 27:17, the classic verse about accountability: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” But the verse that stood out to me during my studies about accountability is Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.”

You know that scripture in Matthew 7:3 that talks about looking at the speck in your friends eye and not even seeing the plank in your own eye? It’s basically like that. We can see things in other people’s lives and help them with those things and in turn they can notice the things that we need to work on that we didn’t even notice.

Having accountability in a godly friend who loves you is something that Lord desires for each of us. My accountability friend encourages me when I’m down and compels me to spend time with the Lord daily. When I am about to fall in an area that I struggle with, I remember that I’m going to have to tell her about it and a lot of the time, that keeps me from messing up. Plus, who doesn’t love the idea of getting to have a guaranteed hang out time with a close girlfriend on a regular basis?