• Join a local moms or MOPS group. After my son was born, my sister-in-law invited me to a local moms group that had joined. Even though it was a struggle to get there with a toddler and newborn in tow, I decided to make the effort. I’m so glad that I did. I didn’t realize how lonely I had been until I was surrounded by other women. I found other moms who could relate to all that I was experiencing as a new mom and it made me feel like I wasn’t alone. Joining that moms group was one of the best decisions I made in those early years and it sparked friendships with women that I still have today.

• Start conversations with other moms at the park or a play center. Meeting other moms at the park or play centers is another way to potentially meet new friends, especially if they happen to live in your neighborhood and frequent the same places you do.

• Look for other moms to befriend at your child’s activity or class. When my daughter was two, I took her to a mommy and me class. We met another mom and daughter who became friends and we would all spend time outside of the class. It was nice to have someone my daughter connected with as well.

• Join a new group or Bible study at your church. Do you have a hobby that you love or an activity you enjoy? Being a mom doesn’t negate our need to enjoy our own interests, and finding a group to be a part of that doesn’t have anything to do with motherhood can  be a great place to find a friend who can support you in what you are passionate about or interested in. Having friends who are in other stages of life is important and valuable to our mothering, as well.

• Reconnect with an old friend you’ve lost touch with recently. Motherhood can be busy and we can sometimes lose our connection to friends we’ve had in the past. This might be a good time to intentionally reach out to an old friend and catch up on how you’re both doing.

Are you looking for more resources? Have you checked out our books?

Our newest book, One Good Word a Day, offers simple but deeply spiritual meditations that will help readers linger on one word each day so they can identify and reflect on how Jesus as the Word influences their daily lives. 

 

Looking for encouragement in your friendships? Our adult friendship devotional, The One Year Daily Acts of Friendship, includes a daily scripture, story, and friendship prompt. It's encouraging and slightly challenging (in a good way!) in helping you find, keep, and love your friends.  

 

Our devotional for tweens is a great complement to our devotional for women! 100 Daily Acts of Friendship for Girls is written specifically for girls ages 8-12 as they navigate friendships in upper elementary and middle school. With a scripture, short story, reflection questions and 50 fun activities to do with you or friends, it's a wonderful way to encourage your daughter, niece, granddaughter, God daughter and her friends to build healthy friendships from an early age.

We've also written two kindness devotionals, The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness and 100 Days of Kindness. They tell the story of how our families embarked on a one-year journey of kindness, and include our successes, failures, and the encouragement you need as a family to incorporate kindness into your own life.

We would love to walk alongside you in encouragement, inspiration, and community. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram as The Ruth Experience or sign up for our monthly newsletter (no spam, ever), here.

If you already have one of our books and love them, we'd so appreciate it if you leave a review on Amazon. 

We're in this together,

Julie, Kendra, and Kristin

With over 75,000 competitions, each day in How to Have Intentional Friendships has a daily scripture, story, and friendship prompt. It is encouraging and slightly challenging (in a good way!) as you find, keep, and love your friends.

And, because our first YouVersion devotional was so popular, we added an additional 7 days called How to Have Intentional Friendships, Part II.

Both excerpts are from our book, The One Year Daily Acts of Friendship, available everywhere books are sold.     

Looking for more resources around friendship and kindness? Have you checked out our other books?

Are you looking for more resources? Have you checked out our books?

We've got you covered with this FREE 7 day devotional except from our book 100 Daily Acts of Friendship for Girls!  

Written for girls aged 8-12 as they navigate friendships in upper elementary and middle school, we include a scripture, short story, reflection questions and (in the book only, 50 fun activities to do with you or friends!), it's a wonderful way to encourage your daughter, niece, granddaughter, God daughter and her friends to build healthy friendships from an early age. 

As an added bonus, the YouVersion devotional includes Conversation Starters to help you as you read along and discuss each day's friendship takeaway. We're so excited to offer this sampler through YouVersion and Tyndale House Publishing!  

Are you looking for more resources? Have you checked out our books?

Our newest book, One Good Word a Day, offers simple but deeply spiritual meditations that will help readers linger on one word each day so they can identify and reflect on how Jesus as the Word influences their daily lives. 

 

Looking for encouragement in your friendships? Our adult friendship devotional, The One Year Daily Acts of Friendship, includes a daily scripture, story, and friendship prompt. It's encouraging and slightly challenging (in a good way!) in helping you find, keep, and love your friends.  

We've also written two kindness devotionals, The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness and 100 Days of Kindness. They tell the story of how our families embarked on a one-year journey of kindness, and include our successes, failures, and the encouragement you need as a family to incorporate kindness into your own life.

We would love to walk alongside you in encouragement, inspiration, and community. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram as The Ruth Experience or sign up for our monthly newsletter (no spam, ever), here.

If you already have one of our books and love them, we'd so appreciate it if you leave a review on Amazon. 

We're in this together,

Julie, Kendra, and Kristin

 

God designed us to be in relationship with others. But sometimes, friendships are hard. 

For many of us, the struggle began when we were young girls. Those early interactions shaped the way we view ourselves and others and continue to influence us throughout our lives.

That's why we wanted to write our new devotional, 100 Daily Acts of Friendship for Girls. As three women who have been friends for more than 15 years—and moms to a combined seven daughters—we want to give girls practical tools to encourage them to become better friends, including giving and receiving apologies, setting appropriate boundaries, and standing up for yourself and others. Each day ends with a reflection question or two for the girl to consider, as well as an action step to take toward becoming a better friend.

When a Friend Isn’t a Friend

Oh, the joys of those who do not
follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners,
or join in with mockers.
Psalm 1:1

The art teacher had just stepped out of classroom. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind him than one of the students became upset that he had left. As the boy’s agitation grew, Tammy heard a snicker break through the quiet murmurs of the other students.

Looking up, she was surprised to realize that the noise was coming from her friend Nora. Tammy’s heart began to pound as Nora’s soft laughter triggered nervous, uncomfortable laughter in the other students. Within moments, the noise had increased, turning into full-fledged taunting—all because a student was struggling with fear and anxiety beyond his control.

Although the two girls had spent hours at each other’s houses over the years of their friendship, Tammy was knocked off-kilter by Nora’s unkind laughter. A swarm of butterflies in her stomach and a lump in her throat had joined her pounding heart. But before her brain had a chance to catch up with her body, she found herself standing and facing her friend.

Looking Nora in the eye, Tammy managed to say, “Knock it off. Just leave him alone.” The words sounded meek and breathless.

Nora glared in response. “What did you just say?”

Stronger now, Tammy repeated the words. “Knock it off. Leave him alone!”

Nora looked as stunned as Tammy felt. Turning back to Tammy as she sat down, she hissed, “You don’t always have to be such a suck up! The teacher’s not even in here to see you being the teacher’s pet.”

Nora’s words stung, but it no longer mattered. In those few moments that revealed her friend’s true character, the relationship changed. As Christians, we are reminded to be wise in our friendships—including not choosing to go along with those who mock others. Nora’s teasing had helped Tammy realize that sometimes friends shouldn’t be our friends, but stay acquaintances. Though Tammy was still kind to Nora whenever they were in class together, they no longer spent time with one another. Though someone may be kind to us, the way they treat others—especially those who are vulnerable or overlooked—reveals what’s really in their hearts.

Things to Think About:

What happens when “friends” reveal parts of their character we didn’t expect?

As Christians and as friends, what should our response be?

Daily Act of Friendship: Thank a friend—either in person, through text, or via a note—for standing by you in a hard situation.

• Explain what healthy boundaries looks like in relationships. We need to teach our girls that no means no, it’s okay to say no, and that consent is important. Let your daughter know that if she is in an uncomfortable situation, she can call you and you will come get her immediately.

• Discuss what to do when a friend shares something that is harmful to themselves or others and needs to be shared with a trusted adult. (Some examples could be: suicidal thoughts, abusive situations, drug/vaping use.)

• Discuss boundaries around social media. Talk about what’s appropriate to post or not post, who you should allow to be friends with you or not,  what to do when someone posts something that is concerning, and when an adult should be brought in on a conversation.

• Teach them to recognize and silence their inner critic. Remind them of God’s love for them and the valuable and unique way that he made them. Praise them often, calling out their God-given talents, letting them know that you believe in them and their dreams and will always be there to support them.
• Remind them of your unconditional love. It may seem like it goes without saying, but be intentional to tell them often that they do not need to earn your love or be afraid of losing your love, no matter that happens. They can come to you with any concern or problem—no subject is off-limits to talk about with you.

Are you looking for more resources? Our newest book, the 100 Daily Acts of Friendship for Girls is written specifically for girls aged 8-12 as they navigate friendships in upper elementary and middle school. With a scripture, short story,

reflection questions and 50 fun activities to do with you or friends, it's a wonderful way to encourage your daughter, niece, granddaughter, God daughter and her friends to build healthy friendships from an early age.

And our adult friendship devotional, The One Year Daily Acts of Friendship is a perfect compliment to our book for tweens.

We've also written two kindness devotionals, The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness Devotional and 100 Days of Kindness. They tell the story of how our families embarked on a one-year journey of kindness, and include our successes, failures, and the encouragement you need as a family to incorporate kindness into your own life.

We would love to walk alongside you in encouragement, inspiration, and community. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram as The Ruth Experience or sign up for our monthly newsletter (no spam, ever), here.

Julie, Kendra, and Kristin

Photo credit: Branding with Savannah @savvyphotagebranding   

Julie, Kendra, and Kristin

Photo credit: Branding with Savannah @savvyphotagebranding   

As moms, we constantly juggle many things—schedules, appointments, meetings, activities, chores—along with the emotional, mental, and spiritual care of our children. On days when dinner burns, the kids are pulling each other’s hair out and stepping on your last nerve, you may wonder if you’re patient enough, kind enough, or just plain good enough to be a mom. It’s enough to make you bend under the pressure if you think too much about it!

Join four women on a 31-day devotional journey as they share encouragement and insights on faith, joy, self-control, and more while weaving in lessons learned through bedtime battles, homework hangups, grocery store meltdowns, and the beautiful moments waiting to be found amongst it all.

Find encouragement and a reminder of the goals we strive for as mothers, a remembrance on our not-so-good days that there is something greater being produced in us and our children, as we learn to lean on God for all that we need. Grace for what happens today, grace over our past, our future, and the families whose lives we influence each day. Grace for all us imperfect mamas out there.

If you're looking for some encouragement for yourself or some other mama that you know, this is
your book! (It's also a great gift idea for Mother's Day!) To celebrate it's arrival we're giving away one FREE copy to a lucky reader! Just leave a comment below and we'll pick a winner later this week!

Are you looking for more resources? Have you checked out our books?

Our newest book, 100 Daily Acts of Friendship for Girls, is written specifically for girls ages 8-12 as they navigate friendships in upper elementary and middle school. With a scripture, short story, reflection questions and 50 fun activities to do with you or friends, it's a wonderful way to encourage your daughter, niece, granddaughter, God daughter and her friends to build healthy friendships from an early age.

And our adult friendship devotional, The One Year Daily Acts of Friendship is a perfect compliment to our book for tweens. With a daily scripture, story, and friendship prompt, its encouraging and slightly challenging (in a good way!) as you find, keep, and love your friends.   

We've also written two kindness devotionals, The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness and 100 Days of Kindness. They tell the story of how our families embarked on a one-year journey of kindness, and include our successes, failures, and the encouragement you need as a family to incorporate kindness into your own life.

We would love to walk alongside you in encouragement, inspiration, and community. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram as The Ruth Experience or sign up for our monthly newsletter (no spam, ever), here.

If you already have one of our books and love them, we'd so appreciate it if you leave a review on Amazon. 

We're in this together,

Julie, Kendra, and Kristin

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