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Becoming Approachable
[Monthly Columnist – Rebekah Snyder] – Maybe beauty has nothing to do with it. Maybe instead of focusing on making ourselves beautiful, we need to focus on making ourselves approachable. I wonder if I’m the only person who thinks how ludicrous this is. Me. The girl of whom it was whispered around the youth group, “Don’t mess with Rebekah, man. Her dad will snipe you.” Me. The girl who spent five months avoiding two guys who would eventually become some of her best friends. Thankfully, they patiently pursued her until she finally agreed to attend their silly Christmas party – just to get them off her back. Yeah, I know…
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Same Sex Friendships
I bet I wasn’t like you growing up. I was taught not to become friends with boys. Boys had kudies and could get you pregnant just by looking at you. Gross. I developed an unhealthy fear of boys at a very young age that stuck with me until college. Even then I was always cautious. To this day, I can still hear my parents yelling “10 inch rule! 10 inch rule!” Don’t lead him on. So I didn’t. Don’t let him get too close. So I didn’t. But when it came to girls, no rules applied. I could have late night phone conversations, sleep overs, and hang out pretty much…
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A Woman Unashamed
[Guest Post by Sarah P] – This is an emotional message, and I don’t like writing out of emotions. But since reading Friends With Girls, I’ve been eaten up. I didn’t want to spill my guts on your blog–and probably should be writing this to someone who actually knows me. But I just want to vent. I’m thirty-two. God started working on me in college, almost thirteen years ago now… I had pretty much rejected femininity. Saying I was uncomfortable in my skin was an understatement! Through the process I discovered that I had been sexually abused. With dear friends and mentors I worked through that, and began to let…
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True Friendship
Sometimes the most holy and true act of friendship is to give up our rights. Everybody wants to be King David. Nobody wants to be Jonathan. David didn’t manipulate Jonathan for an easy way in or deceive him for the biggest seat in the house. Why? Jon was his friend. David endured shame, ran for his life, and stole scraps for food to survive. He never once took revenge on Saul or his friend Jon to become king. Everybody wants to be king. Nobody wants to suffer. Jon had it made. He was [already] royalty. He lived a life of luxury in the palace. Why did he give it all…
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Friends With Girls
[Guest post by Andrea Marbach] – I know the feeling of being friends with girls and being left out in a conversation. The feeling of being less important and ignored. Being single is all I know. I have never been on a real date. Never been asked out for drinks. Never been kissed. I’m almost 25 years old. Growing up in a Christian household did not protect me from some really bad, life changing things that happened to me when I was a child. For many years, I struggled with self-confidence. At the age of 22, I was finally able to look at myself in the mirror and like what…
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Intentional Friendship
[Guest Post by Julianna] – Friendship is the mother of all relationships; ironically. Without friendship, the human race cannot thrive. We could survive, sure, but we wouldn’t be living at our full capacity. We wouldn’t be tapping into who we really are: Created beings in the image of a relational God. Now with that, let me say I am a bad friend. Or at least that’s what my sweet husband tried to tell me. We were watching a video series on marriage and that evening’s topic was on friendship. The pastor said that friendship is the foundation of all healthy relationships. Different types of friendships will go to different levels…
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Friends With Boys
[Guest post by Clara Bastidas] – Sometimes I wish love wouldn’t have such a huge hold in our lives as women. Love is an important part of our lives whether we want it or not. I wish it was the topic of politics, or gardening. But I know God created us this way, and if He did, He must have meant it for good. I’ll try to get to the point of my post. Even though I know any advice on this earth will provide me with the peace that only my faith in Christ will bring, I could use some insights from others who have gone through some of…
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Married With Friends
Since Marc and I got married, I’ve been thinking a lot about friendships. There’s a difference between being a private person and hiding your sins, or a public person and wanting attention. I’m an author so I automatically fall into the public arena. Some days this is great. Other days I groan inwardly. My husband does not share the spotlight. He is a private person. He refuses to use social media–if at all. This is more than okay, actually. I recently found out that Facebook is now a cause of 1/3 of divorces. WHAT? I remember how difficult it was for me to wait a few weeks after Marc and…
