Friendship for Grown-Ups What I Missed and Learned Along the Way
By Lisa Whelchel
I was not drawn to read the book Friendships for Grown-Ups – What I Missed Along The way by Lisa Welchel because I knew her as the person who played the character of Blair on The Facts of Life. It was actually the title that drew me to the book.
In this book Lisa shares about her personal need and longing for deeply connected friendships. She describes friendships from her youth through current relationships today and she calls them a journey with many bumps in the road and no final destination. Each corner you turn promises more adventure.
Lisa shares about the wall of busyness she built to protect her from intimate relationships and the freedom that came from true, intimate friendships when she began to tear down that wall and other obstacles that protected her from becoming transparent.
Lisa explains that there are levels of friendship. Some may be just an acquaintance for life while others are true “safe” friends for life. She offers suggestions to take you from one level of friendship to the next and how to identify “safe” friends.
Lisa shares how her faith in God is the foundation to her having authentic friendships and her friends are the visible manifestation to her of God’s grace. Like Gods grace, true “safe” friendship says that there is nothing a person can do to change the way a friend feels about you or you about your friend.
I relate to Lisa and the struggles she has had with friendships. I feel like I am a lot like her in many ways. To me it seems easier to just not have close relationships. When you open your heart to trust a friend only to have it trampled and torn because your trust was misplaced, then a person tends to withdraw from going back to that place because of the pain and humiliation. Lisa has shown me that just because one friend betrays does not mean that all will do the same. She has shown me that I am missing out on the “visible manifestation of God’s grace” by not stepping out and trusting once again to find true “safe” friendship. I am now beginning the same journey Lisa. Thank you for sharing.
In this book Lisa shares about her personal need and longing for deeply connected friendships. She describes friendships from her youth through current relationships today and she calls them a journey with many bumps in the road and no final destination. Each corner you turn promises more adventure.
Lisa shares about the wall of busyness she built to protect her from intimate relationships and the freedom that came from true, intimate friendships when she began to tear down that wall and other obstacles that protected her from becoming transparent.
Lisa explains that there are levels of friendship. Some may be just an acquaintance for life while others are true “safe” friends for life. She offers suggestions to take you from one level of friendship to the next and how to identify “safe” friends.
Lisa shares how her faith in God is the foundation to her having authentic friendships and her friends are the visible manifestation to her of God’s grace. Like Gods grace, true “safe” friendship says that there is nothing a person can do to change the way a friend feels about you or you about your friend.
I relate to Lisa and the struggles she has had with friendships. I feel like I am a lot like her in many ways. To me it seems easier to just not have close relationships. When you open your heart to trust a friend only to have it trampled and torn because your trust was misplaced, then a person tends to withdraw from going back to that place because of the pain and humiliation. Lisa has shown me that just because one friend betrays does not mean that all will do the same. She has shown me that I am missing out on the “visible manifestation of God’s grace” by not stepping out and trusting once again to find true “safe” friendship. I am now beginning the same journey Lisa. Thank you for sharing.
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