“God Wants to be Our BFF”

I WANT TO SHARE this email I received from my friend Catherine. She was commenting on a section in Friend Me, in which I wrote about her creative strategies for initiating friendship.

Last week I read the chapter on how to make friends. Thanks for including me in it! One of the big lessons I’ve learned in that regard: if struggling to find a group that includes certain women I want to know –  create the group – find a reason for them to become a group.  God has “agreed” with this strategy a few times, put the kibosh on a few and totally “taken over” a few times to make groups I could never have imagined.

 A time when God agreed: I didn’t know any of my neighbors in Alaska.   I wanted to know the women on my street 1) for friendship and friendliness and 2) in case we had a natural emergency like bear invasion, moose stomping, earthquake, landslide, avalanche, power-outage or erupting volcano.  Basically, I really wanted to know who had a generator!  So, after praying and procrastinating I formed a neighbourhood book club.  I was a little disappointed that just two women came to the organizational meeting, one of them the only neighbour who had greeted us the day we moved in, but God was on board.  Five years later it was a friendly group of 13 neighbours who cared for each other very much and did not miss book club except for extreme emergency. 

When God took over: After moving to Alaska God invited me into two years of solitude and the sweetest time with Him.  He kept saying to me “know Me”, “know Me,” “know Me,” and “start a Bible Study” and “Wait,” “Wait,” “Wait,” until eventually I heard Him say “Now”. This group started out as a Bible study for women who worked in my husband’s office. A couple of the women on my mind were new Christians and new moms. Naturally, I assumed they would want my wisdom and would have the time after working all day and taking care of their families to come to a weekly women’s group. Uh…no.  About 20 women came to the first meeting but over the next few months they dribbled away.  This group went through a very rocky first year but morphed into a group of women from every diverse aspect of life in Alaska.  It became a cohesive group of believing women committed to God and being there for each other.

 I also started a Bible Study in Anchorage’s club for wives of oil and gas professionals. Our first study was “10 Smart Things Women Can Do to Build a Better Life” which not only introduced us to each other but also to God and how He impacts our daily life.

So, about your  book, Friend Me…..  I can totally relate to it and I thank you for reminding me how precious friends are, how God formed us to want them and that He wants to be our bff. I am asking God “Want me to start a group with this book?”  He hasn’t said anything yet so I’m just letting that question float around in my heart and His.  We’ll see!