The Friends We Keep by Sarah Zacharias Davis - GIVE AWAY!

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Why are women’s friendships so tricky?

During a particularly painful time in her life, Sarah Zacharias Davis learned how delightful–and wounding–women can be in friendship. She saw how some friendships end badly, others die slow deaths, and how a chance acquaintance can become that enduring friend you need.

The Friends We Keep is Sarah’s thoughtful account of her own story and the stories of other women about navigating friendship. Her revealing discoveries tackle the questions every woman asks:

• Why do we long so for women friends?
• Do we need friends like we need air or food or water?
• What causes cattiness, competition, and co-dependency in too many friendships?
• Why do some friendships last forever and others only a season?
• How do I foster friendship?
• When is it time to let a friend go, and how do I do so?

With heartfelt, intelligent writing, Sarah explores these questions and more with personal stories, cultural references and history, faith, and grace. In the process, she delivers wisdom for navigating the challenges, mysteries, and delights of friendship: why we need friendships with other women, what it means to be safe in relationship, and how to embrace what a friend has to offer, whether meager or generous.

MY THOUGHTS:

“To be anchored to another keeps you on the course of your journey, connecting you to your own sense of value and meaning.” (p. 95)

The Friends We Keep is a rather detailed, introspective examination of friendships among women in both one-on-one relationships and the sense of community we develop among small groups of women. Sarah Zacharias Davis shares some personal insights into her own life journey and the friendships that have marked significant places along the way. She explores different aspects of women’s friendships such as jealousy, the need to belong, the way friendships often serve as a mirror of our own weaknesses and problems, and a woman’s innate ability to nurture others in a wide variety of situations.

This book was interesting to me but not particularly meaningful. I could share some devastating friendship stories of my own, but I don’t think that would make them meaningful to anyone else – only prove that human relationships in general are multi-layered, complex and ever changing. I attended a women’s college for four years, and I can attest to the fact that large groups of women can be the most difficult, bizarre, catty, ridiculous conglomerations of human emotion on the planet. However, some of the women in that mass of humanity were true friends to me during that bizarre time of self-discovery, and I am glad for that. In a nutshell, we all desire, require and are created to function best in healthy relationships.

I was disappointed at the lack of spiritual content in this book. There was very little scripture at all and a ton of references to television shows, movies and historical women’s movements. I was hungry to hear something – anything – about the friendship we share with our Savior and how that can affect and strengthen any weak human relationship no matter how profound its effect in our lives. Overall, I came away feeling like I’d just listened to a woman explore being a woman. I did that for four years in college and its old news.

Women are designed and gifted in unique ways by our Creator for a specific purpose. We find our meaning, our joy, our sense of self-worth in Christ al one. We share ourselves with others too extremely sometimes, but that is not unique to women – men do th e very same thing. We all need space to fellowship with Christ and discover His will for our gifts and talents. Then, male or female, find our fullness in Him and be thankful for each person that we are allowed to share friendship with whether for a day, a season or a lifetime.


I did find this interview that might give you a taste of Sarah Davis' style and intent for this book. Please check that out HERE.


I have an extra copy of this book to give away, so if you enjoy exploring friendships among women from a variety of viewpoints, leave a comment!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sarah Zacharias Davis is a senior advancement officer at Pepperdine University, having joined the university after working as vice president of marketing and development for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and in strategic marketing for CNN. The daughter of best-selling writer Ravi Zacharias, Davis is the author of the critically-acclaimed Confessions from an Honest Wife and Transparent: Getting Honest About Who We are and Who We Want to Be. She graduated from Covenant College with a degree in education and lives in Los Angeles, California.