Encouragement for Real Friendships

*Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Anyone else sing Michael W. Smith’s “Friends” in their youth group days? I remember it was a popular choice when graduation time came around. Well, there is truth to the lyrics of the song,

And friends are friends forever, If the Lord’s the Lord of them, And a friend will not say never, ‘Cause the welcome will not end. – Michael W. Smith

…but these days, how we define “friend” may be a little different. And sometimes it’s a back-and-forth of how and if we should be hurt or rejoice when people can just “friend” or “unfriend” us (or “like”/”unlike” or “follow”/”unfollow,” etc. depending on the social media platform) with a click of a button, like we’re not real people with real feelings.

Beauty in Friendship

Anyone remember Friendster? I don’t know what all networking sites were first on the scene, but I remember joining and it was neat to “see” what all my friends were up to and how they are doing. I remember it being sort of a creepy thing at first if someone wants to be you “friend” online, but you didn’t really know them, like they were an friend’s cousin’s neighbor that you met once at a BBQ. And then, somehow it became less creepy (still a bit creepy to me sometimes depending on who it is, and that’s coming from someone who does social media work), and I have to say some of the connections I have made with “real-life” and “online” friends have been AMAZING and I’m thankful for those friendships. But I know we have all experience friendships where there has been hurt and pain. It is in those times when we have to examine our own hearts and what our own next actions or words need to be. There is beauty in the love that we are called to express when we view our friendships through the “never unfriended” lens.

Some of our beautiful and crazy friends! 🙂

Encouragement for Your Friendships

Like the topic that was explored in Craving Connection, Lisa-Jo’s new book *Never Unfriended, continues that discussion, but at a different level. She digs deep into the backstories and what’s going on in our current stories and how that affects our future stories. Whether we are introverts who long for alone time to be energized or extroverts who can join in on all the social gatherings, we all long for friendships. Lisa-Jo gets vulnerable about fears that we probably all share when we are in the company of others, whether we’ve known them for a long time or we are just meeting for the first time. But God has called us into something more than what we think when we hear the word “friend.”

If only I never felt misunderstood or rubbed the wrong way. If I felt confident and right all the time, maybe I would sleep more. Community can be so uncomfortable. It can chafe and irritate and misunderstand even our best intentions…I’m learning that really loving people means loving them the way they need to be loved, not the way you like being love. – Lisa-Jo Baker

(I pretty much need twistable crayons after all the highlighting I’m doing in this book.)

This book digs deep into the covered places of our hearts we don’t want others to enter. It takes a real-life look at relationships and community. Really, what would Jesus do? Would he unfriend us for the hurts we cause him? He never unfriended his closest friends even when they let him down, denied him, betrayed him… We are never unfriended by him despite our imperfections. Wow, what great encouragement for our own friendships!

Go away Fear! Down with Fear! Unfriend Fear! #neverunfriended @lisajobaker pic.twitter.com/oubfpLOZCq

— Joyce Moy (@iamjoymoy) March 11, 2017

You can find Never Unfriended and more encouraging things over at *DAYSPRING.

It is 30% off right now + use code FREESHIP to receive Free (Standard U.S.) Shipping on the *Never Unfriended book AND the *Conversations Starter Jar. Offer ends Sunday (4/9).

Your turn: Who or what in your life has brought you encouragement?

We will be digging into the topic of Community more in the month of May. I had Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist (I’ve read it several times already) on my Book List for this topic before Craving Connection AND Never Unfriended launched, but grab one or two or the other or both or all three and join me for discussions on Community.

*Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a tiny percentage if you make a purchase through my link at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure policy here.