It wasn't until one of my dearest friends moved away from home that I realized how important it is to surround yourself with women who will speak truth into your life and make you feel at home the way that God intends friendships to be. If you are reading this and thinking that maybe you don't have the right women in your life, let me tell you what you, as a daughter of the king, deserve to have in your life as a circle of friends.

You deserve to have a friend in your life that will sit on the porch and have real, life-giving conversations with you. Going out is fun, but that does not produce growth in friendship. Anyone can go out and party with you, but only a few will come back home and listen to the deepest parts of your life.

You deserve to have a friend that celebrates you in every season of your life. Someone that calls out your growth and sees that you are worthy in every sense of the word. Have friends that will look at you and tell you that the lies you believe about yourself are NOT true. Friends that are willing to process through the hard things are friends that will hold your hand and dance in the good things.

A good gal pal, a SOLID gal pal, is one that never loses sight of your friendship. It's committed, rooted, and firm. In the seasons where communication is weary there is a reconciliation for lost time. If you have the type of friends that tell you to go out and have fun with them to get away from the mess and problems of your life, you might want to re-evaluate the friends you have.

Did that sting? Good, it should have. When you are in a season of life where you feel low, unappreciated, and unworthy, I promise the remedy to that is not to go out and forget about it. It's not to take vengeance against the ones who hurt you, and it's not even to talk about them behind their back. When you have good girlfriends, like the one I have, when you find yourself in those moments you are invited into a place where you feel like you're at home. You are reminded of the truths of who you are when you feel clouded by lies.

My heart feels known and truly seen when I'm with my sweet friend, Joy. Do you feel like that with your gals right now? If not, that's okay. You aren't failing at life, you aren't falling down a hole, you just might want to reconsider who you let into your life.

Today, I am so thankful for this sweet friend of mine. Joy, you are everything that a girl could want in a friend. You are intentional, supportive, real, brave, and loving. This is to you, my forever friend. May there be many more young women that find friends just like you.