RELATIONSHIPS May 1, 2006 ISSUE

MY #1 RELATIONSHIP

JUDY HEDRICK

I FIND THE MORE I LOVE GOD, the better friend I am to others. Everything flows from my relationship to God, from loving Him above all else in my life. Christ Jesus said it this way: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all they strength: this is the first commandment" (Mark 12:30).

Keeping my relationship with God first is something I haven't always valued. I learned a significant lesson about this many years ago during my senior year in college when I fell in love with a fellow art student. He was attractive, attentive, enthusiastic, creative, adventurous—but, as I later found out, dishonest.