Friendships

I am finishing up a book about spiritual warfare and am loving it. I have definitely been able to look back at times when there were big battles going on, and now really see how the enemy was working. Even now on a daily basis, I can see and even sense when the enemy is trying to pull one over on me.

As I am nearing the end of this book, I am looking for a book or study to do on friendships. How to be a good friend, what God wants our friendships to look like, and just relationships in general. Friendships and relationships are a weakness of mine and the enemy is CONSTANTLY working in them and in my mind against them. As my season of having close friendships is ever changing, as well as close relationships with family, I am constantly asking God is this a test of my dependence on you?, you revealing my need to be a better friend?, or does this have anything to do with me at all?

Many times I find a few close friends, work to build the friendships, then just when I think we are bonding, the yarn begins unraveling and I realize oops! never mind that friendship is not what I thought it was. I know God is my only true friend and the one that can meet all of my needs. But I also know that God does ask us to be relational and built that desire into me as a woman. I have been let down so many times in the last four or five years by friends that it gets harder and harder to make myself make friends. Yet, I know that if I sit at home and don't make that effort, then the enemy wins.

This is the next hurdle I want to jump once and for all with God. I have jumped the marriage hurdle- I know that a marriage must be centered around God, I must ask God to make me the wife Jeremy needs and give me the heart to respect Jeremy and honor him even when I don't feel like doing so. I have jumped the idle hurdle- If I place other things, or people- even family members, before God and look to them for acceptance- I will never receive it and never feel the total LOVE and ADMIRATION he has for me. I have jumped the quiet time hurdle- If I do not have a daily quiet time and look for ways to grow in his word- I am a mess!. I have jumped the "It is not about me" hurdle - I was not placed on this earth to be served but to serve others. To reach out to them and be God's hands and feet. Though I have a million hurdles to jump, the next one I want to jump is Friendships.

If you know of an excellent book on friendships, would you leave me a comment with the info.?