Friendships Of Women Bible Study

Great for personal or small group study, this book correlates with the bestselling The Friendships of Women.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 156-157).

In The Friendships of Women, Dee Brestin encourages you to listen to your need for friendships and to find and strengthen those relationships. Relying on key biblical stories, Dee explores what the story of Ruth teaches us about "rapport talk," how Luke celebrates the power of women's intuition, and what we can learn about avoiding unhealthy dependency from one of the most significant friendships in the Old Testament. With a passion borne from an intense belief in the power of friendship, Dee guides your relationships to new levels of intimacy and trust. Engaging, honest, and deeply personal, The Friendships of Women will inspire you to see your desire for friendship not as a burden but as a gift.

Dee Brestin knows women of every age care deeply about their friendships. If a woman's friendships are healthy, they contribute enormously to her emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being. If her friendships are filled with pains, she will be drained, and will miss the joyful, fruitful life God longs for her to have. This guide explores early relationships, such as relationships with mothers, siblings, and childhood friends. Models like Miriam and Jochebed, Rachel and Leah, and the young women friends in the Song of Songs provide fascinating insights. As friendship matures, many women experience the joy of ministry partners, mentors, and soulmates. This guide will help you to make these friendships the best they can be. This guide is one of a series by Dee especially for women. Dee Brestin ministers to the hearts of women with her speaking and writing. She is the author of The Friendships of Women, The Lifestyles of Christian Women (Victor), and eight Fisherman Bible studyguides (Shaw). She and her husband, Steve, are the parents of five children and live in Nebraska. and nbsp;

Friendships with other women are as important to our mental, physical, and spiritual health as rest, exercise, and prayer. We don’t just want friends—we need friends. God created us for relationship. Yet despite being more connected than ever before, we struggle to feel connected. From the false intimacy of social media to busyness and relational conflict, there are many challenges to developing authentic relationships. If you’ve ever been hurt by a friend, struggled to balance friendship with everyday life, seen a friendship end too early, or longed for deeper and more authentic friendships, this Bible study is for you. As Natalie leads you in a deep exploration of timeless truths in the Old and New Testaments, you will learn how to develop and nurture the kind of enriching and satisfying friendships that build up the body of Christ and bring honor to God. Personal testimonies and stories of successes and failures add a level of authenticity that is refreshing and insightful. As you learn to cultivate God-honoring relationships, you will become more like Christ and demonstrate His love to a broken world. Study participants will find deep study of Scripture's principles for God-honoring friendships; help for navigating conflict, setting boundaries, and learning to forgive; in-depth study of Scripture with testimonies and stories that "ring true," the do's and don'ts of authentic friendships; and Bible-based guidance for building stronger and deeper relationships. The Leader Guide contains six session plan outlines, complete with discussion points and questions, activities, prayers, and more—plus leader helps for facilitating a group. Other components for the Bible study, available separately, include a Participant Workbook, DVD with six 16-20 minute sessions, and boxed Leader Kit. “Becoming Heart Sisters is a beautiful reminder of how powerful walking hand in hand with a loyal friend can be. After completing this study, you will be better equipped to be this kind of God-honoring friend. Thank you, Natalie, for the charge to sacrificially love and serve our friends.” —Lysa Terkeurst, New York Times best-selling author and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries

Inspirational and practical help for women to find, enjoy, and nurture friendships, especially for moms with young children.

Male alliances, partnerships, and friendships are fundamental to the Hebrew Bible. This book offers a detailed and explicit exploration of the ways in which shared sexual use of women and women’s bodies engenders, sustains, and nourishes such relationships in the Hebrew Bible. Hebrew Bible narratives demonstrate that women and women’s bodies are not merely used to foster and cultivate male homosociality, male friendship, and toxic hegemonic masculinity, but rather to engender them and make them possible in the first place. Thiede argues that homosocial bonds between divine and mortal males are part of a continual competition for power, rank, and honor, and that this competition depends on women’s bodies for its expression. In a final chapter, she also explores whether female characters in the Hebrew Bible use male bodies to form friendships and alliances to advance female power, status, and rank. The book concludes by arguing that women are essential to the toxic biblical hegemonic masculinity we find in the Hebrew Bible, but only because their bodies are used to make it possible in the first place. This book is intended for scholars of the Hebrew Bible, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students in religious studies, women and gender studies, masculinity studies, queer studies, and like fields. The book can also be read profitably by lay students of biblical literature, seminary students, and clergy.