{"id":10402,"date":"2013-03-14T00:01:58","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T04:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=10402"},"modified":"2013-03-13T19:44:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T23:44:00","slug":"captivating-chapter-10-awkward-love-an-open-hand-pg-183-187","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/14\/captivating-chapter-10-awkward-love-an-open-hand-pg-183-187\/","title":{"rendered":"Captivating: Chapter 10 – “Awkward Love” – “An Open Hand” (pp 183-187)"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we have seen, intimacy is not only an issue when dealing with relationships between men and women, but just as equally between women. \u00a0Friendships can go through the same challenges as any other relationship. \u00a0There are expectations, hurts, dependencies, and disappointments. \u00a0It is how we deal with these challenges that will determine the strength of your friendship.<\/p>\n

Communication is essential in any successful relationship. \u00a0This isn’t always easy. \u00a0If you are like me you may not like to “rock the boat.”\u00a0\u00a0It is easier to not say anything than to lovingly confront your friend. \u00a0While that may be a temporary band-aid that will cover the issues, it will inevitably lead to an infectious resentment or hurt. \u00a0As many, if not all of us, can relate, if we don’t talk about an issue when it first comes up, chances are that it will come out later in a more explosive, less loving manner. \u00a0That doesn’t serve any relationship well. \u00a0Talk, repent and forgive.<\/strong><\/em> \u00a0Love like Jesus.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“In your relationships\u00a0with\u00a0one another\u00a0have the\u00a0same\u00a0mindset as\u00a0Christ Jesus”\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Philippians 2:5<\/span><\/p>\n

Another important aspect of a successful relationship is your own personal security of your identity in Christ. \u00a0I definitely saw myself in the examples given by the author of this book in comparing our “fallen” selves to our “redeemed” selves.<\/p>\n

Fallen women want people to come through for them.\u00a0\u00a0Redeemed women knows Christ has come through for them, and\u00a0are more free to give of\u00a0themselves and “put\u00a0themselves out there.<\/em>“<\/p>\n

Fallen women have been hurt so they withdraw from relationship to avoid further pain. Redeemed women know they are valuable and secure in the Lord, so they are able to be vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\"fallen<\/a><\/p>\n

I don’t know about you, but I thank God I am redeemed! \u00a0This, for me, was the ultimate “take away” from this section. No matter what we do, no matter the relationship, when we do it with the prompting and guidance of the Holy Spirt, and we do our best to love others like Jesus loves us, we can’t help but find the intimacy we long for. \u00a0It won’t always be easy, but it will be worth it. \u00a0God is so good, and I am so thankful for His faithfulness!<\/p>\n

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Proverbs 17:17<\/em><\/p>\n

LET’S PRAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You. \u00a0Thank You for showing us what love is. \u00a0Thank You for giving us an example to follow. \u00a0 Please help us when it is hard for us to face the tough stuff. \u00a0Give us Your strength, mercy, and grace as we deal with the relationships that mean so much to us. \u00a0Let us rest in the security of Your love, and be free to give that love to others. \u00a0In You, this is more than possible. \u00a0In Your Heavenly Name we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n

YOUR ASSIGNMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friendship is such a great gift! How can you nurture, guard, and fight for your friendships?<\/p>\n

*******************<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you would like to send Michelle a private email in regards to this blog post, you may email her at: \u00a0Michelle@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

*******************<\/p>\n

\"GWS\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Girls With Swords by Lisa Bevere<\/h2>\n

Our next online Bible\/Book study begins March 24th. \u00a0To register, click on the picture above, complete the registration form, and as soon as we receive your registration, we will email you further details. \u00a0We hope you will join us!<\/h3>\n

**********<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we have seen, intimacy is not only an issue when dealing with relationships between men and women, but just as equally between women. \u00a0Friendships can go through the same challenges as any other relationship. \u00a0There are expectations, hurts, dependencies, and disappointments. \u00a0It is how we deal with these challenges that will determine the strength […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":10409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[144,147,218,425,1985,436,554,571,1986,686,723,968,1009],"class_list":["post-10402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-singles","tag-bible","tag-bible-study","tag-christianity","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-girls-with-swords","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-john-eldredge","tag-lisa-bevere","tag-michelle-graziano","tag-online-bible-studies","tag-singles-bible-study","tag-stasi-eldredge","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/fallen-women.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-2HM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10402"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10411,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10402\/revisions\/10411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}