Community and Friendship

How do you function around emotionally unstable people? You know who I’m talking about. That one person who dominates the conversation talking about their problems, yet cuts you off when you mention something about your own life. Or that coworker who relies on you to be emotionally supportive while they go through their divorce, yet offers no support when you’re …

Mentors are valuable people who have the ability to encourage and push us forward in life. My first “official” role as a mentor was when a young woman asked me to mentor her as she went off to college. When she asked me, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but I was eager to be a voice of …

Why can’t men and women just be friends? It’s a question that many have asked before for one reason or another. Friendship seems so simple, and yet it can get overly complicated due to social expectations and unclear intentions. Maybe you’ve tried to pursue a mixed-gender friendship with honest intentions, but have had friends or family gently “encouraging” you to …

Ladies. Friends. Sisters. Can I ask you to listen up for a few minutes? There’s a time to be gentle and a time to be firm. I want to level with you right now. Too often friends have told me how a guy has led them on, and I listen as they lay all blame for their broken hearts on …

Recently, another mom reached out to me with a story I’ve heard way too often. Nothing lights me on fire more than hearing about a struggling single parent making their way to church, only to get lectured throughout the service about divorce. Personally, it’s happened to me more times than I can count. And many of those occurred before I became …

As a single woman in her 30s over a thousand miles away from her closest natural-born relatives, I sometimes long for connection and intimacy that I don’t always feel in my studio apartment across the river from Manhattan. There may be millions of people here, but sometimes I still feel alone. Once in awhile, I think a boyfriend or husband could …

I’m at the age where many of my friends are married or in relationships. In fact, my best friend of 15 years is married with three kiddos ranging from 2 years to 10 years old. Her life is hectic like most people’s — school events, ministry responsibilities, work and family. Stumbling upon some free time is like finding a pot …

Honesty. It’s one thing we all say we want in a relationship, right? Maybe we’ve been led on or betrayed in the past. Maybe we’ve become fed up with mixed signals and trying to navigate the guessing game of the dating world. Or maybe we just have a hard time opening up to others and being honest ourselves. Whatever the …

Good relationships are built, but so are bad relationships. Our relationships hold evidence that exposes the truth of what we’ve built. Social media is the neon sign for social proof of what we’ve built in our relationships. It’s all about connection and validation. We’re wired for community and need our brothers- and sisters-in-arms to help us battle through life. However, …

One of the longest friendships I have had in my life began in the middle of 7th grade. I transferred from one school to another in January, right in the middle of the school year. Citronelle, Alabama was a new (and small) town for me — far from the likes of North Hollywood, California, where I lived the first 10 years …