We Saved You a Seat

Have you “heard” {a.k.a read my post} me talk about the book Never Unfriended by Lisa-Jo Baker?

{If not, you can go right over to this post and check it out.} {You can’t physically check the book out like you would at your local library, BUT you can check out my chit-chat about it.} {Furthermore, your local library would be an awesome place to check for Never Unfriended!} Or you could purchase it on Amazon right here.

Today, I have a giveaway for the Bible study that correlates with Never Unfriended.

UPDATE: Giveaway over…….but you can still look at the pictures of these lovely study books and read my words and musings about friends and friendship!! 🙂

It is very fittingly called, We Saved You a Seat.

What girl doesn’t thrill at those words? Don’t they simply imply companionship and friendship?

And here’s the thing. Saving seats can be a bit of a bother in a crowd. When people flowing in keep asking if the seat is taken and you keep explaining, “Oh, I’m sorry, this seat is taken. It’s for my friend.”

If someone is friend enough to save you a seat, well, that’s a friend indeed!

I have a bajillion photos on this post because I started snapping my camera shutter and it was fun and the pictures came out rather pretty and girlish and looked like just the right thing to pull up a chair with a best friend or two and dig a little deeper into “Finding and Keeping Lasting Friendships.”

I think I’m very safe in saying we have ALL struggled with relationships and friendships in some way, at some time.

The above version is written for the teen girl audience. I love the cover! I really want to curl up in that hammock chair.  I’m all about a beautiful book and cover.

No, you can’t judge a book by its cover, but a beautiful cover is certainly a plus in my book. {Pun intended.}{In case you missed it.}

You can get a little sneak peek and feel for the study with a few of the inside pictures I took. I think the chapters and subject focus are very well done.

Each week has three days of homework with a Friendship Challenge at the end.

I think these studies will enrich friendships and relationships even if you are already blessed with awesome ones!

I am deeply grateful for the different friendships and women God has put in my life. He’s blessed me with friends through ages and stages!

When I was very young, I had two cousins who I loved to play with. Mind you, we had our disagreements at times too. But we mostly had fun!

As a teen, I had about five really close friends and then I added a couple more, plus I had my sister!

During my teen years, I also had four or five girls who were good friends. I wasn’t as close to them, but they were sincere and dear and added to my life.

As a newly married-young-wife and moved-to-another-state, God sent me a good friend. We’d known each other, but we weren’t ever together a whole lot until we were both married. She’s still a super-dear friend to this day. We’d bake cookies and take walks and make Wal-Mart runs together. We had fun hanging out together, but we could give each other space without getting offended.

I don’t think there’s a tried-and-true checklist for what makes a friendship happen or click. I do think this study is jammed full of a lot of things and ways that can enrich your friendships and grow you as a better friend.

As I muse over my friendships, I really absolutely could not come up with the how and why to tell you for why each one developed.

I have several more friendships I could write about, but I don’t have the time and I’m not sure I have the right words right now either.

I do want to chat just a bit about a very dear friend. We’d never met until circumstances brought us both to Kansas. We weren’t the same age. We weren’t even at the exact same stage in life. But we had several things in common and as a relationship began, we found more and more that we related and connected. She is a gift from God to me.

I will share a couple of key things I believe about our friendship.

We’ve long practiced guilt-free friendship before Lisa-Jo came along and gave us a name for it. THAT right there is a HUGE key to healthy, long-lasting friendships, I think.

We knew we were friends, even if we didn’t see each other often. We could say no and we didn’t offend each other. We didn’t pressure each other or try to outdo each other. We cheered and encouraged and shared good news. We shared frustrations and vented now and again. We laughed together and ate chocolate.

I would most definitely save her a seat. 🙂

I HAVE had a lot of sweet and kind friends and women in my life. And I have had some struggles too. That’s why I appreciate Chapter 6. “Friendship Takes Walking Away Wisely.” The homework for Day 1 is called “It’s Not Your Job To Rescue Other People.” It’s true. While I deeply believe in kindness and caring, we can not fix anyone else, ultimately. Sometimes, it does mean walking away. Even this can be done kindly and gracefully. Drawing boundaries doesn’t have to be ugly. Oh, it will hurt. I’ve no doubt about that, but it doesn’t have to be done in a mean or malicious spirit.

I’ve also met a variety of women over the years who I enjoyed chatting with. We greet each other at the grocery store or have a brief conversation when our paths cross. Yet, these relationships don’t necessarily go deep or become the kindred spirit kinship type. Once again, I don’t have an explanation. I do believe it’s humanly impossible to be super close to everyone you meet up with. I don’t think we’re emotionally equipped for that in our humanness nor do we have enough time.

There’s another type of friend I want to quickly mention that has greatly impacted my life. I call her a long-distance prayer warrior friend.

I have a friend I met online. We don’t live in the same state. But we’re only a text apart. We both believe deeply in prayer and we both have struggles and cares. We’ve become prayer-warrior friends. We can quickly tap out a will-you-pray-about…………….this for me and send it in seconds over the miles. This friend has impacted and blessed my life profusely.

Here’s something I love about this type of friendship. First, I know my friend WILL pray and that I am not bothering her to ask her to pray. Second, I have friends who live nearby who are prayer warriors too. I do ask them to pray at times too. However, it is easy for me to ask my across-the-miles friend to pray because I know she’s far enough away that she’ll just pray and won’t feel like she has to take time to do something tangible for me.  Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes we need to take time to drop off a favorite drink or give a friend a hug. But, I’m also glad to know I can quickly ask for prayer without feeling like I’m going to take any more of my friend’s time than that. Prayer is a gift and I love that we can pray anywhere we are.

Driving to work. Standing in line. Washing dishes. We can pray for those friends who come to mind.

I have an adult copy and a teen copy of the study books to give away. One winner will win them both. If you don’t have a daughter, I believe and pray that God will know just the right young women for you to gift this study too.

Thank-you so much to Lifeway for sending me these studies to review and give away.

I’m very happy to have this study and for my daughter to have the teen one to work through. She’s learning things I wish I would’ve learned better when I was her age. I’m not at all faulting my own dear mother in any way. My Mother and sister are two of my best friends. When I was young, I don’t think the encouraging Biblical resources were nearly as readily available as they are now. My Mother taught me many good lessons and instilled character traits I more deeply appreciate the older I get.

I’m praying for God to bring the right women to even read this post and possibly pick up their own copy of this study, as well as praying for the right winner for this giveaway.

There are videos available to purchase , as well, to go with the study. I know they will definitely add. But I’ve done several studies that had videos, but didn’t purchase the video part and I still very much learned and was blessed by the study.

Grab some chairs, pull up some seats, call a few friends or that women who you’ve really wanted to get to know better and dig into this study together!

Just a cautionary note. I’m going all bossy here. Put yourself out there. Invite that girl. BUT, be ok with it if she does turn down the invitation. There can be all kinds of reasons. Be willing to practice guilt-free invitation.  Keep asking. If you ask long enough, there will be someone who’s just been waiting!

One more quick story…..{Girlfriends, I did not see this coming. I didn’t realize this “simple giveaway post” was going to grow so long and end up with so much of my heart in it.}

A whole buncha years ago, I remember hearing about a ladies gathering of some of the women in my circle at the time. If I recall correctly it had been a small birthday celebration for one of the women. I hadn’t been invited and I remember the thought running through my mind, “Oh, that would’ve been a fun thing to go to.” Just as quickly I reminded myself not to even go down the path of “not being included”. I also realized that while I knew this gal and we were on friendly terms, we weren’t super-close friends and it wasn’t something I would have expected to definitely be invited to. And on another note, I realized it isn’t always possible to invite every Jane, Susie and Sally. My not getting invited didn’t mean the hostesses were unkind or indifferent.

I told myself, “If you want to do something, plan it, invite some girlfriends and enjoy it. And should it not suit the women you invite, keep asking. You will find someone who’s interested!”

I don’t tell this story because I think I have it all figured out or because I’ve never felt left out or wished I could get to know a certain person.

I tell it because I deeply believed in the thoughts that came over my heart and I’ve never forgotten them. I’ve practiced this ever since and I’ve shared the thoughts with other girlfriends on occasion.

Sometimes instead of sitting around waiting on the invitation, you need to be the one offering the invitation.

Praise God for friendships! And most importantly, praise God for Friend Jesus. Savior of us all. Best Friend and Brother to us all.

I’d love to hear your stories and hear about your very-dear-to-you friends!

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