Longing for a Friend? Don’t Waste Time Waiting for Someone to Befriend You

We have another “friend/prayer group” starting up next week and I’m just thrilled.

For those of you who haven’t heard my teaching on this topic, the quick bottomline is that a “friend/prayer group” is just a set time that 4 or 5 women meet every week for friendship and for prayer. We don’t read a book or study the Bible. We accomplish no “goals” other than sharing our lives and being friends. It’s wonderful and particularly helpful for people like me—introverts, lots o’ weaknesses, not naturally good at relationships—because it is intentional; and it’s particularly helpful for busy people because it forces you to set aside time and keep a consistent, long time that makes friendship a priority.

The best friend/prayer groups I’ve been in meet from 6:30-7:30AM (before work / workouts / domestic diva duties) and include women from various stages of life—young/single, married no kids, married little kids, grandmother, widow, etc.

Five has been the best number for our little efforts—three is a little too small (if one person can’t come, it’s just a two-person visit, and if both of you are home with small kids and could do a time OTHER than 6:30AM, why are we there so early?); more than five means that not everyone gets to share each week.

But the details don’t really matter. It’s really just preferences. What matters is that you take intentional steps to build authentic, deep relationships.

I’d write more about this, but our friends just dropped off two of their three children for the day (it’s 6AM) while their son is at the hospital having some minor surgery, and both of my own girls are clambering for attention. So I need to scoot.

I’ll close with a great post by Carolyn McCulley to (hopefully) further encourage you in your friendships:

Blessings,
Tara B.