Bailey T. Hurley - Together Is a Beautiful Place: Finding, Keeping, and Loving Our Friends

Baileys book is timely and wonderful. It will touch you deeply in addressing womens needs and longing for companionship and intimacy with friends. She shows clearly how to make this possible by applying practical and insightful ideas. I loved this book, and I think you will too!

SALLY CLARKSON, author, encourager, friend, podcast host of At Home with Sally

Bailey Hurley has written a remarkable book that has the power to transform not only how you view friendship but how you do friendship. Brimming with Christ-centered joy and exuberance, Bailey takes you by the hand (as any friend should) and helps you navigate the often-overwhelming terrain of friendships in the modern world. One part guide, one part friend cheerleader, Bailey is the friend we all wish lived next door (and who we could grab a mug of coffee with). But more than that, Bailey ultimately directs our gaze and affections to our truest friendJesus Christ. Grab this book today and get motivated because friendships have the power to make a scary and lonely world a little less frightening and a whole lot more inviting.

JONATHAN D. HOLMES, author of The Company We Keep, executive director of Fieldstone Counseling

Bailey Hurleys book Together Is a Beautiful Place is a thoughtful resource for those of us who want to makeand developChrist-centered friendships. Through sharing her own story (full of friendship victories and failures), Bailey offers practical tools and spiritual insights so we can cultivate true friendships that flow from the love of Christ.

ANN SWINDELL, founder of Writing with Grace, author of The Path to Peace and Still Waiting

Having known Bailey personally for many years, I trust her friendship advice. She knows how to show up, love, and serve! Bailey gently but boldly names the fears that hinder healthy relationships, but she doesnt leave us stuck in that lonely placeshe puts tools in our hands to help us become committed girlfriends, freely giving and receiving the friendship we crave. She helped me realize that my friendships arent just about me, about my satisfaction or fulfillment: This is about Kingdom building, one intimate connection at a time.

AMY LIVELY, author of How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird

Bailey beautifully illustrates the power of togetherness and the importance of building life-giving connections in Together Is a Beautiful Place. Through her masterful demonstration of building an inclusive table, she reminds us all that genuine relationships are within our grasp, even when community building feels out of reach.

By sharing her own extremely relatable journey of friendship fumbles, she powerfully showcases how meaningful friendships are cultivated, not wished into existence. Deep, long-lasting relationships require intentionality, and Bailey gives us a blueprint to better understand what it really takes to cultivate meaningful connections when each of us inevitably finds ourselves in a season where its time to make friends again. If youve ever struggled with building a close-knit community, this book is for you. If you have lifelong friends you cherish but find yourself wondering how the heck to make the most of your time in maintaining friendships, this book is for you. We all long for a table with a spot reserved just for us, and Bailey tells us how in Together Is a Beautiful Place.

KELSEY CHAPMAN, author of What They Taught Me

With lots of heart and gospel truth, Bailey invites us into a safe space to consider the essential topic of friendship. Let Together Is a Beautiful Place remind you of Christs compassion for every woman, motivate you toward a right understanding of sacrificial living in friendships, and call you to more in relating to one another in kindness, just as it did for me.

HOLLY MACKLE, author of Little Hearts, Prepare Him Room, curator of Same Here, Sisterfriend

There is a big difference between a social life and truly being in communityand if its the latter that you want, Bailey will inspire you step-by-step on that journey. With poignant honesty and contagious hope, Bailey guides us all to the deeper friendships were made to experience.

SHASTA NELSON, MDIV, friendship expert, author of Frientimacy

We all crave meaningful connection, but we often struggle with how to make and keep authentic relationships. Now more than ever, we need a mentor like Bailey Hurley to come alongside us with godly wisdom and practical advice. Together Is a Beautiful Place is a must-read for women of all ages and stages in life.

KRISTIN SCHELL, author of The Turquoise Table

Truth be told, I seldom read nonfiction books by authors less than half my agethe generational gap in life experiences is too wide. In Together Is a Beautiful Place, however, Bailey Hurley winsomely offers fresh yet timeless principles on friendship building that I have found to be true in nearly seven decades of life. We are never too old to discover new friends who can become the old friends we long to have. Im thankful to Bailey for pointing the way to rich relationships for a new generation.

MAGGIE WALLEM ROWE, author of This Life We Share

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

For more information, visit NavPress.com.

Together Is a Beautiful Place: Finding, Keeping, and Loving Our Friends

Copyright 2022 by Bailey Hurley. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers.

NavPress and the NavPress logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. Tyndale is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Ministries. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team:

David Zimmerman, Publisher; Caitlyn Carlson, Acquisitions Editor; Elizabeth Schroll, Copy Editor; Olivia Eldredge, Operations Manager; Julie Chen, Designer

Published in association with the literary agency of The Steve Laube Agency, LLC.

Cover and interior images are the property of their respective copyright holders, and all rights are reserved. Birds moleskostudio/Adobe Stock; coffee cup by Techi/Rawpixel; coffee shop and cake day 2021 by Melanie Fenwick and used with permission; coffee stains KsushaArt/Shutterstock; all other photographs provided by author and used with permission.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.