Friendships and the People in Your Life

Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that always washes its hands after using the restroom and then opens the door with a paper towel.

Abigail London is credited with saying:

“People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Don’t try to make those people fit where they aren’t intended. This is what causes you pain and brokenness. Try to find the lesson God is sending through that person.”

Those are wise words.

Most of the friendships I have today were forged over the last 5 years. Some were forged much earlier.

During my 2020 reset, I’ve tried reconnecting with some people I knew from the past.

Recently, I made a list of every person I could think of who used to be in my life over the last 20 years.

Most of them aren’t in my life today.

(The angels and I rejoice that this is the case with a few of them! Concerning others, the loss has saddened me.)

However, I have learned something from each one.

So this is what I did:

I wrote down at least one thing I learned from each person.
I released those whom I sensed God removed from my life.
I sought to reconnect with others I felt impressed to reach out to.

None of us knows what the future holds. So we have to get used to living with uncertainty, which is a master skill.

As I exhorted in my Survival Guide for the Current Virus Crisis, now is the time to reconnect with people you’ve not spoken to in years.

By the way, the more I read about the panic, anguish, depression, and hardship among God’s people right now, the more I see the need for the Survival Guide. So please share it with your friends. There’s no charge for it. I simply ask that you send them this link with a recommendation to read it. frankviola.org/survival

I noticed that after I released the Survival Guide, a few theologians have written their own books on the pandemic and charged for them.

Anyways, consider making your own list of people you used to know over the last 20 years but who’ve ghosted you (or vice versa).

Release some of them, resting confident that God didn’t want them in your life. And seek to reconnect with others.

For more on this subject, check out:

What Makes a True Friend? 5 Characteristics

7 Ways to Destroy a Friendship

Shifting gears, here are the top 20 most popular podcast episodes from the “Christ is All” podcast, which is now making a resurgence since we’ve put The Insurgence Podcast on pause until January. I explain this in Episode #75. (Thanks to M.C. Biro for compiling the list.)

Epic Jesus: The Christ You Never Knew 45399

Living by the Indwelling Life of Christ 43795

The Eternal Purpose 29900

Living by the Spirit 27651

The Gospel of the Kingdom 19294

Nomad Podcast Interviews Frank on the Organic Church 19072

Encountering Christ in Colossians: Part I 18275

The Deeper Journey: Part I 17891

Living in the Divine Parenthesis 17861

Why I Don’t Advocate House Church 17563

Answers to Hot-Boiling Questions 16756

Encountering Christ in Colossians: Part II 16473