Love. The golden word for the month of February, am I right? I think February is one of my favorite months because I love Valentine’s Day so insanely much! But I also love the emphasis on love this month brings. You see, God designed each of us with the need to feel loved. I absolutely LOVE the way Megan put it: “You see the thing is, we humans need to know we are loved. We are extremely needy, every single one… Read more »

A long-distance friendship can stink… but it can also be really awesome! I’ve talked about long-distance friendships here on Joy Because Grace before (see this post containing tips and stories and this post about what to do before your friend moves). Today, I’m going to be telling you about my all-time favorite way to stay in touch with my long-distance bestie. :) Quick backstory… My best friend Michaela and I have had a long-distance friendship for about 8 or so years. Over the years, we… Read more »

About a month ago, I broke up with Instagram. And let me tell you, it hasn’t been as easy nor simple as I thought it would be. Going this long without Instagram is really, really, really hard. One of my friends deleted Instagram the same day I did. I admitted to her a few times that it’s been really hard staying off of Instagram, and I asked her if she had been having the same struggle. She said she hadn’t been,… Read more »

The following is a guest post by Janae Biologically, ladies and gents are programmed to look for a mate.  Let me be the first to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way if we are conscious of our interactions! Platonic friendships between genders are possible but require a bit more thought. Ladies, I would like to give you some simple advice about your friendships with guys. There is likely to be a time when you will have… Read more »

This past Wednesday, November 8th, I broke up with Instagram. That’s right. I officially called things off. In other words, I deleted the app. And let me tell you that going without Instagram these past few days has been really, really hard. This weekend was my university’s annual pageant, which I participated in last year. It’s been really hard staying off of Instagram. I want to see other people’s posts about the pageant and I want to post a mushy post… Read more »

Do you ever wonder how you can help your friend during her breakup? Me too. Confession: I like making everyone happy. And when one of my friends is hurting due to a situation that I can do nothing to fix? Well, during those times I tend to ignore the fact that I can do nothing to fix the problem and go a little crazy trying to do things to cheer them up: Jump through hoops. Attempt to juggle. Tight-rope walk. Join… Read more »

Have you ever felt left out by people you thought were your friends? Me too. It was Spring Break 2016, and my family had a bunch of family friends from church over to our house for a great big get-together. After dinner, some of the kids (who were all teenagers lol) wanted to go to a local ice cream shop for dessert. I heard a few of them mention this idea and then went into planner mode. I scurried around my house,… Read more »

Dates aren’t just for boyfriends and girlfriends. After all, remember the playdates you went on when you were little? Those were great! Getting together with a dear friend and playing pretend. Let’s bring back playdates… only now let’s call them “Best Friend Dates.” Seems more grown up to me. :) Today I want to share four “best friend date” ideas with you. These ideas are targeted for the summer months, but you can adapt them for any time of year…. Read more »

A year ago I wrote a post entitled, “3 Ways to Maintain a Long Distance Friendship,” which was basically a long distance friendship survival guide. Today, I want to share what to do before your best friend moves to help prepare yourself for the change. This upcoming December, one of my current best friends is going to move 7.5ish hours away. Not exactly a happy situation in my book. This will be my fourth best friend who moves away. So I have… Read more »

The day has come where I share the raw truth about why I deleted my Facebook and Instagram apps from my phone and took a social media fast. I’d like to think of us as two friends who were grabbing coffee (or hot chocolate) and catching up on life. As the coffee cups warmed our chilly hands, I’d lean forward and make a confession: “So National Boyfriend Day happened in October, and it kinda sorta wrecked havoc in my heart.”… Read more »