How To Make Real Friends

Have you ever found yourself in a friendship where the other person needs to control every circumstance, isn't willing to contribute equally to you, gives with strings attached, and even shows signs of jealousy over your other relationships? Friendships like these can leave us regularly second-guessing our status in the relationship. The result is that we tend to come away wounded, and we now have to control the narrative of our next and new friendships. This is why it seems so much easier to simply have “cyber friends”. It gives the appearance of being in control and avoiding all of those negative feelings. Here's the bottom line, WE NEED FRIENDS! We were created by a relational God to be in relationship! But, those relationships have to be healthy! We’ve all been hurt! And, when we've been hurt relationally it is our natural tendency to operate in one of two modes - fight or flight. Both of these reactions make it difficult to experience healthy friendship. And lead to a false sense of health. However, if we are going to experience the kinds of friendship we need it will require two things from us – 1. You are going to get hurt and 2. You’re going to have to embrace vulnerability! The truth is we were created by a relational God for relationships, which means, we need friendship! Healthy relationships must become a non-negotiable in our lives. Even in healthy relationships, there are going to be some uncertain moments, and there will definitely be times when you are hurt, but we still need the relationships. Ultimately, we need friendships because life is better when we are moving through with others. You are not meant to do life alone – get out there and be a healthy friend with healthy friendships!