Amanda Anderson - All My Friends Have Issues: Building Remarkable Relationships with Imperfect People (Like Me)

PRAISE FOR ALL MY FRIENDS HAVE ISSUES

Need some friends but dont know how to make them? Amanda shares how to choose them. Need to shed some unhealthy relationships? Amanda details how to let them go. Need to be a better friend? Amanda models how to safely and smartly risk for connection. In All My Friends Have Issues, Amanda Anderson becomes the friend weve always needed and, in the process, helps us become a better friend so we can make better friends. At last! No more nose pressed against the glass, looking in from the outside. The door is open! Come on in, grab a spot on the couch, and dive in.

Elisa Morgan, president emerita of MOPS International, cohost of Discover the Word, speaker, and author of The Prayer Coin, The Beauty of Broken, and Hello, Beauty Full

Amanda Anderson describes the emotional and psychological foundations of healthy friendships in this captivating and often hilarious book. Offering her own experiences with warm vulnerability, shes written an entertaining and informative book!

Milan and Kay Yerkovich, authors of How We Love and How We Love Our Kids

Be ready to laugh and then to learn as Amanda shares her weaknesses and foibles in her relationships with herself and her friends. But its more than a laughing matter, for in the midst of her vulnerability she makes powerful points about what it takes to be an authentic friend. You will be a better friend from reading this book.

David Stoop, PhD, clinical psychologist and author of You Are What You Think and Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

All My Friends Have Issues is a fresh and current look at an important subjectfemale friendships. Amanda takes the reader on the journey of developing authentic friendships that will encourage, sharpen, and lead us to a place of rich connections with other women. This book is fun and informative. After years of working with women, this is a book I would highly recommend!

Debbie Alsdorf, speaker and author of Its Momplicated and The Faith Dare

God never intended for us to go through life alone. And though we know this truth, we find ourselves alive during an interesting time in history. Social media enables us to be friends with people weve never actually met. Connected 24-7 via the internet, studies have shown people are more lonely and isolated than ever before. In many ways we have lost the art and skill of making friends and being a good friend. In All My Friends Have Issues, Amanda guides us with thoughtful steps of how to form and maintain healthy friendships with actual people in real time. Written with personal examples, principles from Scripture, and relatable topics, this book is needed and necessary. Highly practical and enjoyable to read, Amandas style is warm, funny, authentic, and relatable.

Vivian Mabuni, speaker and author of Open Hands, Willing Heart: Discover the Joy of Saying Yes to God

2019 by Amanda Anderson

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ISBN 978-1-4002-0858-6 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-0857-9 (TP)

Epub Edition May 2019 9781400208586

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019938089

Printed in the United States of America

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For my Js:

Especially Jen, Josie, and Gina.

Thank you for loving me so well, issues and all.

And for Sophia and Olivia:

May you always find, as your mama has,

friends that point you to Jesus.

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.

1 PETER 4:8 THE MESSAGE

Turk and I met over a Bloomin Onion. I like to think of it as a metaphor for our relationship because its delicious, but not really so healthy.

J. D. IN SCRUBS

CONTENTS

A Real Friend

Marilla, she demanded presently, Do you think that I shall ever have a bosom friend in Avonlea?

Aa what kind of friend?

A bosom friendan intimate friend, you knowa really kindred spirit to whom I can confide my innermost soul. Ive dreamed of meeting her all my life.

L. M. MONTGOMERY, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

I was about seven years old when I began to feel the deep need for a good friend. Not having a car, I started making friendships of convenience. Next door there was a girl about my age who possessed an incredible collection of Barbie dolls, which I was forbidden to own, so she held instant allure. She and I never really shared a soul connection, however, and one day when she burned me with a cookie sheet and didnt really apologize, Im afraid I lost interest. As my friend Terry is now fond of saying, that told me everything I needed to know.