Have a friend who’s harder for you to love during an election season? This free gift will help.

Building Strong Friendships

Kristen
Books
Speaking
Blog
- Archives
Subscribe
Free
- for everyone
- for military spouses
Shop
- The Changing Nest: A Twelve Day Devotional for the Mom of the Graduate
Instagram
Contact

Subscribe

Add your email address to receive encouragement through your own difficult life change from my heart to your inbox. (Two to three articles + one newsletter are sent per month.)

Email Address

Subscribe to Chasing Blue Skies in a Reader:

Share
Tweet
Email

On Instagram

We can't control what someone else does or doesn't

We can't control what someone else does or doesn't do in a friendship or potential friendship, but we can control our own actions.⁠
⁠
5 ways to be the kind of friend you want to have:⁠
⁠
1. Listen more than you talk. Pay attention to (as I've had to do!) how often you feel that urge to interrupt someone or shoe-horn yourself into the conversation. Maybe it's not too often, or again, maybe it is.⁠
⁠
2. Be a hype girl who names the good you see in or about the other person. Leave her feeling better than she did before she talked with you. ⁠
⁠
3. Invite her into your home. The less "perfect" your place is, the better. No one feels at ease sitting in a museum!⁠
⁠
4. Ask her how you can pray for her or her people. Set your alarm to help you remember to do it.⁠
⁠
5. Give her the benefit of the doubt when she makes a mistake. Carry a lot of grace rather than a lot of expectations into your friendship.

#kristensfriendshipconfessions #friendship #friendshipgoals #friendshipgoals❤️

If this time of year is extra painful for you beca

If this time of year is extra painful for you because you're extra lonely, I'm so sorry. I've been there too. ⁠
⁠
For some, this isn't the most wonderful time of year but the most lonely time of year. ⁠
⁠
If that describes you, please know that God's heart always beats for you. This isn't only true when life goes as you'd like it to go, surrounded by an abundance of friends. It's also true when you're lonely because friends are few and far between. Whatever your struggle to be seen, known, or to belong, God loves you and will see you thought your season of loneliness. ⁠
⁠
#prayingthroughloneliness #loneliness #friendship

⁠We never reach the end of the road in finding o

⁠We never reach the end of the road in finding our people. That is, we don't want to think of friendship as something we check off on our list of things to do. Of course, it's well and good to be satisfied with and thankful for the friends we have! But we never know when the Lord is gonna do a new thing in our lives by bringing us a new friend.⁠
⁠
We can't be friends with everyone we meet; there are definitive limits to the number and depths of relationships we can have in our lives. At the same time, if we're meant to be friends with somebody new, God will make a way for that friendship to work for both people.⁠
⁠
I'm so thankful for the friends I've made in my town, and yet I don't close off my heart to the possibility of a new one. So, I keep traveling along, enjoying regular rest stops where I meet up with my people. At the same time, I never know if a new friend from a new place may be around the next bend.

#kristensfriendshipconfessions #friendshipgoals #friendshipconfessions #friendship

I looove decorating for Christmas, but as I'm doin

I looove decorating for Christmas, but as I'm doing so, I'm reminded that I won't get to spend Christmas this year with every member of my immediate family. ⁠
⁠
I'm so thankful that most of us will still be together. But for others--and maybe for you--that won't be the case. .
⁠
The holidays can be the best of times or the worst of times, depending on how lonely you're feeling. And if you're one feeling deserted or isolate, or friendless, I'm so sorry. It's hard to be "merry and bright" at this time of year when you feel terribly alone.⁠
⁠
If you or a loved one is especially lonely right now, I have a devotional resource, called Praying Through Loneliness, that will help, one that includes material specifically written with this time of year in mind. Comment HOPE and I'll send you a message sharing where you can find this resource for the best price I've found. ⁠
⁠
Take heart: Loneliness may be your reality, but it isn’t your destiny. Praise be to the good Lord above.⁠

#Prayingthroughloneliness #loneliness

Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2024 Kristen Strong · Site by Erin Ulrich Creative · Chasing Blue Skies Logo by Aliza Latta

You aren’t alone. Filled with honest, hopeful, and hard-won stories from 40 women, my brand new 90-day devotional, Praying Through Loneliness, will be a comfort and a friend as you find camaraderie in your season of loneliness.

Get the book here!