Cultivating Friendship with the Clarksons in "Girls' Club"

Today three of my favorite influencers, Sally Clarkson and her daughters Sarah and Joy, are releasing their new book, Girls' Club: Cultivating Lasting Friendship in a Lonely World. You can find it on Amazon at this link: https://amzn.to/2C43WIY. I was given the opportunity to read the first three chapters of the book for this review, and getting this taste has made me eager to read the rest of the book!

I love the genuine, heartfelt writing style of authors Sally Clarkson and her daughters Sarah and Joy. As a reader, they make me feel like they are talking to me personally. In the documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", I heard Mr. Rogers say that, when he addressed his audience, he would always picture that he was speaking personally to one child. In the same way, the Clarksons give the sense that they want to connect with the reader as a unique person.

I especially connect with Sarah's chapter, Chapter 2. Sarah has a beautifully unique way with words that draws me to everything she writes, and she expresses sadness and struggle in such a way that I can see them as a pathway to beauty rather than a dismal end in themselves. In this chapter, she speaks about loneliness, and she shows the reader that the ultimate reason that loneliness plagues us is the Fall: "The fallenness of the world means that each of us experiences an essential loneliness, a deep sense of separation from each other, of being isolated and even unlovable." Seeing loneliness in the context of the Fall helps the reader realize that such an experience is nothing to be ashamed of and is a common experience in this world. This acknowledgment counteracts the lie that we are somehow different from "normal people," somehow lacking, if we struggle with feeling isolated. And, as Sarah speaks lovingly to her readers, she encourages us to "begin to live by the voice of love," to "combat the isolating patterns of life in a far-too-busy world."

In Girls' Club, the Clarksons offer women great encouragement, affirming the vast power of women to influence the world for goodness, beauty, and life. We women need to hear these messages of affirmation to remember how God sees us, and how much He wants to strengthen us to do His work in the world. 

I'll be getting my full-length copy of Girls' Club soon, so keep an eye out for my full review!