a friend in me by pamela havey lau - REVIEWED

About the Book:
A Friend in Me (David C. Cook, June 2015)

Young women long for relational connection with women further ahead of them on the journey. Yet, without realizing it, many of us tend to distance ourselves from those in younger generations.

Can we really have close relationships with women who have different thoughts on church, different experiences with family, and different ways of talking about God? Where do we start?

In A Friend in Me, Pam Lau shows you how to be a safe place for the younger women in your life. She offers five patterns women need to internalize and practice for initiating relationships and talking about issues such as faith, forgiveness, sexuality, and vocation. Most significantly, she reminds you that there doesn't need to be a divide between generations of women. Together, we can have a global impact---and experience a deeper faith than we've ever known.

My Thoughts:

“Past writers and current researched have noted that our spiritual health is dependent on intergenerational relationships.  When we relate to someone who is older, we see our lives through a long historical perspective of life as opposed to relying solely on our own experiences.”  (p. 93)

This statement is one of the building blocks upon which the entire premise of this book rests.  Pamela Lau encourages women to seek God, and all of the means available to us to reach emotional and spiritual health so that we can be a safe place for those coming behind us.  God built us to be in relationship, and He wants us to have life-giving relationships that bring us closer to Him so that we may bring others.  If all of us are taking a close look at areas of our life upon which relationships are built such as comfort, understanding, forgiveness, compassion…and we seek God to be whole in those areas, we can then turn to others and share our story in ways that will help them become whole and find healing.

Truly, this book gives us a picture of what friendship can and should look like among sisters in Christ. The next to the last chapter is entitled “Building Close Friendships and Working Hard”.  It is hard work to get past the life-circumstances that the enemy uses to keep us from being the hands and feet of Jesus to those coming behind us. But it is vital that we do that hard work!  Lau uses many examples from Scripture to illustrate these truths, and she encourages readers to go to God and wrestle with Him to gain the wisdom and understanding we lack.

This is truly a God-given message for such a time as this in my own life.  I am certain it will be for many readers that come to these pages.  Thank you Pamela Lau for writing such a transparent, honest book!!

About the Author:

Pam Lau was born in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, to first generation Christian parents; her mother was Jewish and converted to Christianity as an adult. Pam taught writing for almost 20 years at the college level in Kansas, Pennsylvania and Oregon. After her three daughters were born, she published Soul Strength and taught writing at private day schools until 2010 when she started her own business, Real Life Real Image where she writes, edits and speaks. Pam is married to Dr. Brad Lau, a college administrator.