So I have a friend.
Well, you know her, but she doesn't really like Christians.
I guess she's had some hurtful experiences with them.
And I have an assignment from school to talk about a nonbeliever, about my faith.
And so it's a little intimidating.
She has a very strong personality
and stance on things, so
I'm a little nervous.
That makes sense, right? I mean it makes sense that
you have those feelings. Those emotions make absolute
sense with what's going on with with your friend.
Why do you think...
I'm going to be an emotions detective for a minute. Ok?
Okay. I want to just dig in a little bit.
What what do you think might go wrong? What...?
I'm scared that I could hurt her
in the process, I guess.
Because she already feels hurt by Christians,
so I don't want to say the wrong thing.
And then she's like, Christians are so judgmental and stuff like that.
I want to give her a clear picture
of Christians since she's already had the wrong picture of Christians.
And that's where the fear is coming from?
Like, you might do the wrong thing or say
the wrong thing, and you might lose the friendship?
Yeah, I'm afraid of losing the friendship.
That's... so it makes sense that
you would feel nervous about it, It shows that you love her.
So do you think if you enter with love for her and respect for her,
that you will be able to maintain that friendship with her?
Do you think you guys are close enough where she'll be able to see that
you're asking out of a heart of love for her?
I hope so.
I'm not sure yet. It's gonna be a challenge.
Yeah.
So how do you think you're going to prepare your feelings
for the moment?
What do you mean, prepare my feelings?
Because, I mean, part of it's going to be anxious.
I think the other part of you is excited because you, you
you love her and you want to be able to talk about this.
And you wanted to talk to her about this topic.... For a long time. And now it's here.
It's like oh no buh boom, buh boom, right?
And I would imagine once you start talking,
the heart rate will go down,
the love will start to show, and you'll be in it.
Do you agree? Is that kind of what ends up happening with those nervous feelings
once you're in it? It's not as bad? Mmhmm.
I would think from what you guys have had,
Have you guys had difficult conversations already?
I mean, she's pretty open.
We haven't talked about like I mean, she she's really open
with things in other people's lives.
And her life, I guess.
But we haven't really like discussed a particular deep topic.
It's just been things going on in her life and her friends lives, so..
Do you think it seems that you guys have enough trust for this?
I think so, yeah.
So what the fear tells me here
Lexi, is that you're taking this seriously,
that you love her, you don't want to lose that friendship.
If somebody approached you like that,
how do you think you'd react?
Would you just let go of that friendship?
No, probably not. Yeah.
It'd probably make me think twice about what we're talking about.
Lexi, you know, I can't solve these things, right?
But I can hang with you and just listen to your heart.
It makes sense that you have those big feelings on this.
And as a dad, what I can do is walk alongside you
as you experience those and know that here to encourage you along the way.
I can't.
I can't fix it. Yeah.
Yeah, but hey, Lex, you've got
the tools to be an amazing friend, and I'm excited that you're
you're
powering into places that are a little bit intimidating
to you. Love the fact that you're able to be open with me and share this.
And we're able to just talk about
unsettling things that go on inside of you and that we have this trust.
And just know, I'll be looking forward to hearing how it goes
and, man, it'd be cool to have a friend like you
alongside of me asking me questions
so, I think you got it. Love you Love you, dad.