The Importance of Strong Friendships with Julie Bagwell and Frieda Younts

My guests for this first podcast episode are my two very best friends, Julie Bagwell and Frieda Younts. We’ve been friends for 26 years! Over time we’ve experienced lots of ups and downs but have remained close through it all. How did we do it? By being honest and real with each other, for one thing, but mostly by building our friendship on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Growing up I only had one friend at a time and always felt like I never belonged. In my late 20’s I began praying for God to bring some good friends into my life and He was faithful to do just that through Julie and Frieda.

Each of us has been married for at least 30 years and have grown children, so we have lots of experience under our belt—some good and some bad. But we’ve held onto each other through it all and are grateful God has helped our friendship to remain strong.

In this episode we talk about how hurts and jealousy, especially in a group with three friends, can be easy to fall into. But instead of letting them fester we bring it out in the open and talk about these things in the spirit of love. A friendship is work, but it’s so worth the reward.

Our desire is to help other women experience friendship like we have, because good, godly friends can have an amazing impact on your life. But in order to make it work we must be intentional. Listen in as we discuss simple and practical ways we learned to grow and sustain our friendship.

Here are a few highlights and references from this episode:

“You can’t believe everything you hear and you sure as heck can’t believe everything you think, and so sometimes you need somebody to help gospel you back to where you need to be”. – Julie

“Once you build up some trust bank with each other you make gracious assumptions, and you don’t assume they said that to hurt your feelings or they intentionally left you out. But you gotta build it up before you start making those withdrawals.” – Julie

“We started with [honoring God in our get-togethers]. When we started with that God knit us together. That’s why we don’t have huge arguments because we’re knit together by God. He started our friendship and I think we’ll be friends till we die.” – Frieda

Scripture references:

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. –  Hebrews 10:23-25 (Julie)

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. – 1 Samuel 18: 1-3 ESV (Frieda)

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. – Romans 12:15 (Carol)

Tips and Resources:

Use car time wisely to connect and share positive things with your kids. Be inquisitive, but not to the point of being intrusive. Make sure to ask open-ended questions and be quiet while waiting for them to answer. Also play the type of Christian music your kids would most likely listen to. Find a good Christian radio station or download songs onto your smartphone and share them with your kids.

Listen to Focus on the Family.

Share with other moms in your small groups. They may have some good suggestions for you and you may be able to benefit them as well. If you have preschool aged children, a great place to meet other moms and mentors is MOPS. Find a group in your area.

If you have a daughter, read Your Girl by Vicki Courtney. It’s a great resource for encouragement and inspiration.

Building Strong Homes One Story at a Time Podcast Episode with Julie Bagwell and Frieda Younts