Find Your People

“We know we need to do life with other people and have a supportive community around us instead of living in isolation, but we often wonder how when we’ve had friendships fail, we’ve been hurt, or we feel too busy to even make the effort. In Find Your People, my dear friend Jennie Allen shows us how to make true emotional connections with the right people so that our authentic relationships can be healthy for all.”—Lysa TerKeurst, #1 New York Times bestselling author and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries

“This book is a true reflection of God’s heart for us to experience authentic, vulnerable, and meaningful relationships. Through Jennie’s wisdom and practical advice, she shares how to overcome the common barriers that keep us from finding our people and pushes us to fight to replace loneliness with community.”—Sadie Robertson Huff, author, speaker, and founder of Live Original

“I can’t think of a better book or message for our current moment than Find Your People. We are starving for community, meaning, and deeper, more life-giving relationships—and Jennie gives us the road map to actually get there. This book is essential reading for our tired and lonely souls.”—Jefferson Bethke, New York Times bestselling author of *Take Back Your Family
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“Jennie Allen not only casts an incredible vision for true friendship and community, but she also leads the way by example. In an age when we’re tempted to believe deep and meaningful friendships are impossible, Find Your People is a timely, practical resource.”—Ruth Chou Simons, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, artist, and founder of gracelaceddotcom

“Deep community is the path to health, joy, success, connection. Find Your People will inspire you, challenge you, and encourage you toward the relationships you need and want.”—Annie F. Downs, New York Times bestselling author of *That Sounds Fun
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“For this generation Jennie Allen is the vulnerable voice we need, and with Find Your People she has provided a beacon-illuminated map that is as practical as it is inspiring. Read this and find your people. Read this and find the life you have been hungering and thirsting for. Read this and find Jesus.”—Curt Thompson, *MD, author of *The Soul of Desire and *The Soul of Shame
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“We were never designed to journey through life alone. We need to be seen, to be known, and to belong in order to flourish. In Find Your People, Jennie Allen shows us how to build deeper, stronger relationships that point us to Jesus and help us live out our God-given purpose.”—Christine Caine, speaker, author, and founder of Propel Women

Autorentext
Jennie Allen is the founder and visionary of IF:Gathering as well as the New York Times bestselling author of Get Out of Your Head, Made for This, Anything, and Nothing to Prove. A frequent speaker at national events and conferences, she is a passionate leader, following God’s call on her life to catalyze a generation to live what they believe. Jennie earned a master’s in biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Zac, have four children.

Klappentext

"The ... author of Get Out of Your Head offers practical solutions for creating true community in a world that's both more connected and more isolating than ever before"--

Zusammenfassung
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE ECPA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD • The author of Get Out of Your Head offers practical solutions for creating true community, the kind that’s crucial to our mental and spiritual health.

“My dear friend Jennie Allen shows us how to make true emotional connections with the right people so that our authentic relationships can be healthy for all.”—Lysa TerKeurst, author of It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way
 
In a world that’s both more connected and more isolating than ever before, we’re often tempted to do life alone, whether because we’re so busy or because relationships feel risky and hard. But science confirms that consistent, meaningful connection with others has a powerful impact on our well-being. We are meant to live known and loved. But so many are hiding behind emotional walls that we’re experiencing an epidemic of loneliness.
 
In Find Your People, bestselling author Jennie Allen draws on fascinating insights from science and history, timeless biblical truth, and vulnerable stories from her own life to help you:

• overcome the barriers to making new friends and learn to initiate with easy-to-follow steps
• find simple ways to press through awkward to get to authentic in conversations
• understand how conflict can strengthen relationships rather than destroy them
• identify the type of friend you are and the types of friends you need
• learn the five practical ingredients you need to have the type of friends you’ve always longed for
 
You were created to play, engage, adventure, and explore—with others. In Find Your People, you’ll discover exactly how to dive into the deep end and experience the full wonder of community. Because while the ache of loneliness is real, it doesn’t have to be your reality.

Leseprobe
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There Is Another Way

Do you believe that you were built for true, radical connection? Even if you’re an introvert, we all are physically, emotionally, and spiritually hardwired by God for relationship. From the moment you were born until you take your last breath, deep, authentic connection is the thing your soul most craves. Not just as an occasional experience, but as a reality woven into every day of your life.

But to access this reality, you’ll have to make some changes. Because something is fundamentally wrong with how we have built our lives.

We spend our evenings and weekends tucked into our little residences with our little family or our roommates or alone, staring at our little screens. We make dinner for just us and never want to trouble our neighbors for anything. We fill a small, little crevice called home with everything we could possibly need, we keep our doors locked tight, and we feel all safe and sound. But we’ve completely cut ourselves off from people outside our little self-protective world. We may feel comfortable and safe and independent and entertained.

But also we feel completely sad.

Nearly all of us live this way, and yet it’s just not working for any of us. As I mentioned, research says that more than three in five Americans report being chronically lonely, and that number is “on the rise.” These stats are indicators of a grave and costly crisis. Anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts are all on the rise. Scientists now warn that loneliness is worse for our health than obesity, smoking, lack of access to health care, and physical inactivity.

So why are we letting it define our days?

Is this living? Is this how life is supposed to go?

Let me skip to the answer: No. It isn’t supposed to be this way! You know what you were actually built for?

•Long, meaningful conversations with people who have known you for years and would donate their kidney if you needed it.

•People who drop by with pizza and paper plates unannounced because they missed you and aren’t afraid to intrude.

•Regular unscheduled and unhurried time with people who feel like family, even if they aren’t.

•The obvious few wh…