Deepening FriendshipsSample

Day 3: Deepening Sisterhood

Another story from Sherry:

After returning from my second Deepening Weekend in 2012, having heard from women who knew each other’s stories, I longed for that, for my heart, and for the women around me. I invited several women to join me in this exploration, this way of experiencing life together. I hoped it could be more than the average weekly Bible study that meets to talk about God. What if we became sisters, who know and experience God and life together, friends who are a safe place to be known and seen?

Our journey together has been hard fought for the four of us, taking steps together through books we read, risking and engaging our hearts over coffees, lunches, dinners, long walks, and camping adventures. It didn’t just happen, and it didn’t happen overnight.

Our friendship, SISTERHOOD, INTIMACY grew through telling our stories and honoring each other’s stories while holding each other’s hearts through betrayal, death, deep grief, and longing for more. Intimacy flourishes in our journey together exploring life, hearts, laughing together, and navigating challenging times with dear friends who love, know, and see each other on our best days, and on our worst. There is little space for the false self–we see it coming because we know each other’s true self.

Little did I know how much I would need these fierce and tender hearts in my life to navigate all the storms of the past years. These women around me have played an enormous role in my heart’s restoration.

As you ponder all this with God today, consider asking Him:

Father, would you bring to mind one woman (or several women) with whom I could pursue friendship like this?

Jesus, how have the women in my life over the years played a role in my restoration, in my becoming who I am today?

Spirit, would you comfort me today in the places that still feel uncomfortable in pursuing friendships with women? Would you nurture in me courage and longing for what you desire for me?