This week’s guests are special friends of our family, Donavan and Lavonna Garrett. I’m so humbled by their willingness to share the hard story of Lavonna’s loss of her parents and only sibling to cancer, their years dealing with 13 miscarriages, and their painful struggle through Donavan’s alcohol abuse. It’s an incredible story of hope, forgiveness and healing.

Today I’m excited to introduce you to my newest friend, Jennifer Deese. Because Jennifer loves Christmas and all of the holiday traditions that go with it, I invited her to share some of her favorite traditions that we hope you’ll want to add to your own this year. She’s been through some tough times in her life, which is why these long-standing traditions are even more dear to her and her family. They provided stability for her kids during those difficult years. I know you’ll be blessed by our conversation.

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. 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.