It’s embarrassing to admit it but somehow I have reached my mid thirties and still am not exactly sure how to crack the code of creating authentic, especially local, friendships. No matter how I try, I feel perpetually floundering when it comes to making friends as an adult. Even though my ... read more
What To Do When You Can’t Find Friends
One of the strongest friendships in my life is the most unorthodox. It’s the one where we’ve rarely had a real-time conversation. Instead, we swap voicemails--these detailed, emotive, startlingly-honest monologues--and we have for nine years now. Currently, we live 3,065 miles (i.e. one very ... read more
the power of sisterhood: together we can defeat armies
by Anika Ryan Ortiz I signed up for a women’s retreat for our church, and the nerves of my introverted side made me anxious for the weekend. After I arrived and settled in the Southern California mountain retreat, the rhythm of the weekend allowed for depth and friendships to form.On the final ... read more
How to Nourish True Friendship with Others
I stare at her text.“I felt like you were dismissive and controlling. . .”It’s like the phone burns my hand. I put it down and gaze out the window, willing myself not to cry, trying to gather my thoughts.In following one friend’s advice, I inadvertently offended two others. And quickly ... read more
How to Keep Long-Distance Friendships Strong
On a sunny Friday in October, I sat in my friend's hallway and helped her pack up her husband's office. We chatted as we have on countless other Fridays about love and marriage, children and parenting, faith and loss.Neither of us wanted to dwell overlong on the fact that this would be our last ... read more
How to Cultivate Trust in Friendships
by Elizabeth Grace Saunders “Elizabeth, I trust that you’ll make a good decision,” said my friend as we tromped through the woods on a long hike where we had been discussing a difficult situation I was in at the time. Not only was the decision tricky but also it involved a personally emotionally ... read more
Jane Austen and Friendships in Literature (an interview with Katherine Reay)
Female friendships can be difficult to navigate as much as they are beneficial to the soul. Grace and patience are required in abundance. (But that’s true for any type of relationship, right?!) Reading about friendships provides a unique opportunity to mold and reform your own behavior using a ... read more
Speak Forth
Speak to me inside of her. That was the word the Lord whispered into my heart the day I hit my knees in prayer for a friend.I had struggled in our relationship. We were in a Bible study together and it seemed that no matter how I tried to encourage her in her walk with the Lord, my words were ... read more
How to Speak Life and Truth into the Hard Moments
I had spent too long in front of the mirror that Sunday morning. After swapping with a friend a bag of clothes we no longer wanted, I had a new-to-me lacy top to wear to church. That Sunday morning also happened to be one of those first indecisive spring days: the morning began with a chill in the ... read more
Words That Wound
I had been called many things, but "traitor" had never been one of them. Until that day at the orphanage in Haiti when those hurting children took their anger out on me. I crawled crying into my parents' bed that night and I remember them saying, "They probably don't even know what that means." And ... read more
