Dee Brestin - The Friendships of Women: The Beauty and Power of Gods Plan for Us

Im saddened every time I hear a young woman declare, All my best friends are guys. What joy they are missing out on! Its time for women to once again journey through life closely connected to other women. Let this remarkable road map be your guide.

Shannon Ethridge , best-selling author of the Every Womans Battle series and Completely His: Loving Jesus without Limits

What a privilege to read this classic twenty years after it was originally written. Not only did I gain from Dees original insights, but I gained from new insights shes gained over the last two decades. Brestins wisdom applies to current and future friendships; she is a wise mentor in regard to both proper boundaries and hopeful vision for the relationships that transform a womans life.

Lisa T. Bergren , coauthor of What Women Want

Growing up as a child star, I missed the junior high experience where girls typically learn how to develop and maintain friendships. To help navigate this often insecure, occasionally treacherous, and frequently blissful path, Ive read over two dozen books on friendship, and The Friendships of Women is, by far, the best one!

Lisa Whelchel , author of best seller The Facts of Life and Other Lessons My Father Taught Me

When humbled by a confrontation from a friend, I ran to Ms. Dees The Friendships of Women for instruction. Like a delicately woven tapestry, this wonderful book has stood the test of time. Its deeply biblical, thought-provoking truths have touched hundreds of thousands of women just like me who want to understand friendship, be on guard for its perils, become prepared for its challenges, and be recipients of its blessings. Ms. Dees offering to this generation is as poignant as it was to the last.

From the foreword by Priscilla Evans Shirer

The absolute best book on womens friendships.

Kathy Troccoli , recording artist and author

The Friendships of Women has changed my life, my relationships with other missionaries on the field, and my relationship with God.

Sarah (Haiti)

I owe so much to you, Dee Brestin. I have reconciled with friends from whom I was estranged. Thank you from the bottom of my all-choked-up heart.

Carolina (United States)

Sometimes I would laugh out loud, causing my husband to look up and ask me to read what Id read. Sometimes you made me cry or shake my head in surprise but always you made me thinkthe mark of a good writer.

Addy (Africa)

Ive read my husband many paragraphs aloud. He used to feel so threatened by my friendships with women, but now he is truly supportive. He sees how they help rather than hurt our marriage.

Rebekah (United States)

When I read the chapter on Relational Idolatry, I felt as if the last piece of a complicated puzzle had finally been put in to place. I had the chills I was so relieved to know there was a NAME for what I had experienced, that others had experienced the same thing, and that there were actually reasons why I did what I did. God worked through this to totally change my relationship with Him.

Karen (United States)

Dee, thank you for your giftedness and for writing this book. It has changed my life. My husband also now understands that I need women around me. I am becoming more confident and comfortable with them and am so much happier and joyful.

Lyn (Australia)

I first read the original book probably twenty years ago. It was so practical and encouraging to me then, as a single woman striving to live for Jesus. Now I am a married woman colaboring with my husband in ministry with two children. It is such a relevant book for women of all ages and stages of life.

Norina (United States)

THE FRIENDSHIPS OF WOMEN
Published by David C. Cook
4050 Lee Vance View
Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C. Cook Distribution Canada
55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications
Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

David C. Cook and the graphic circle C logo
are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher.

The Web site addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These Web sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C. Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked PH are taken from J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English , revised editions J. B. Phillips, 1958, 1960, 1972, permission of Macmillan Publishing Co. and Collins Publishers; TLB are taken from The Living Bible, 1971, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60189. Used by permission; NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible , Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved; KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain); CEV are taken from the Contemporary English Version 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission; and MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Italics in Scripture quotations have been added by the author for emphasis.

LCCN 2008927718
ISBN 978-1-4347-6837-7
eISBN 978-1-4347-6576-5

2008 Dee Brestin

First edition published by Victor Books 1988 Dee Brestin, ISBN 0-89693-432-2

The Team: Susan Tjaden, Amy Kiechlin, Jack Campbell, and Susan Vannaman
Cover Design: Greg Jackson, ThinkPen Design
Cover Photo: Ghislain & Marie David de Lossy

Third Edition 2008

To My Daughter Sally

At eleven years of age, your gift for intimacy has blessed our family with immeasurable joy. May you be strong, my darling, and open to Gods pruning; and may you so abide in Christ that your gift flourishes, bringing warmth and redemption to a cold and hurting world.

Today, twenty years later, Sally is Sally Brestin Hale, a clinical counselor in Chicagos inner city.

How thankful I am to my precious women friends who have allowed me to probe their hearts and souls concerning their friendships with other women. I am also humbled by the thousands of women who have e-mailed, responding to this book, which originally was released twenty years ago, telling me of its impact. Your stories have not only provided fresh material for this edition, but have affirmed the timeless power of the principles of God in transforming our friendships.

Priscilla Evans Shirer, who has written the foreword to this edition, is a young woman who is anointed by God. PriscillaI am so thankful God caused our paths to crossfor I love how you love the Word, how you call me Ms. Dee, and how you made yourself so vulnerable in your foreword. Thank you!

Special thanks also to my perennial friends (season-after-season friends), including my grown daughters and daughter-in-law.

Thanks to my late husband, Steve, who always believed in me and allowed me the freedom to fly. How pleased you must be, darling, to see this book continuing to impact women in a new generation.