end of friendship...

Has anyone lost friends as a result of following your faith? As hard as this is to understand for myself, I think a very dear friendship of mine is over. My friend has watched as I lived in sin, got saved and have eagerly walked wherever Jesus leads me. I have not become a fanatic, but nothing is more important than my Christian walk. I'm not sure if this friend of mine even believes in Jesus, but she does talk about God a lot. I recently talked to her about the importance of finding a church family that she was comfortable with and asked her to consider going. I shared how important it is to fellowship with other Christians and to be accountable to others. That opened the door to her true feelings ... she doesn't believe in the Bible and most of its teachings she feels are outdated. I went about this in the most loving way possible, challenging her to pick up and read the Book before blasting it (she's never read it before). So anyway, very long story short, she is no longer speaking with me. She felt I was saying to her that if she didn't go to church, I'd stop being her friend. Of course, I said nothing of the sort. I've tried talking to her twice since this and nothing.

This whole thing has felt horrible, but I also realize we are in two very different places. I will follow the Lord to the ends of the earth, and she's not quite there and there's a strong possibility she may never be there. I do want my friendships to honor God and maybe this one just doesn't. . My faith carries me through all of this and I do know there's a reason for everything. It's just that this person has been my closest friend for 2 years and so it's a little heartbreaking.