Book Review: Friendships for Grown-ups by Lisa Whelchel

I just finished reading the book, Friendship for Grown-ups by Lisa Whelchel. Lisa was a famous actress, author, pastor's wife, mother to 3 children, and a follower of Christ. Some people would think that is the perfect life. But she discovers what is missing in her life are true friendships. In this book, Lisa shares her journey traveling the ups and downs of friendships, learning about herself, others, and the kinds of friendship God designed. She shares her struggle with trying to be perfect, the wall she had around her to protect herself from being hurt by others, and what happened when the wall came down. She describes what to look for in a close "safe " friendship and how to make, maintain, and keep theses relationships healthy.

Wow. This is a really great book ( and I don't say that too often.) Lisa's story is heartfelt and compelling. I read this book and saw so much of myself in it. Jesus is my best friend, but we need to also have relationships with people so we can grow closer in our relationships to the Lord. My husband is my best friend. This is absolutley true, but he is a man, and women just need women sometimes. Lisa shares in her story that she thought that the more perfect that she was, the more people would like her and want to connect with her, so she showed people only what she wanted them to see. I think as women we have this idea that we need to show perfection to the people around us. We need to be able to do it all can't show when we are weak, vulnerable, or a miserable failure at something. We may find it hard to trust people with our inner most feelings or past experiences because we have been hurt by people we trusted in the past. This book offers powerful reminders of how to keep our strong friendships healthy and for those who may long to build this kind of friendship, it is a compassionate guide to becoming the friend we all need.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson for the sole purpose of reviewing it and received no other financial compensation.