Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.

For those that may be listening for the first time, our podcast is an offshoot from our main platform YouTube.

Our channel is called Coffee and Bible Time where our goal is to help people delight in God's Word. We also have a website and storefront with Bible studies, prayer journals, and more. I'm Mentor Mama, and today I have a special guest joining me, Amberly Neese, to discuss the topic of friendship.

After a long year of separation, we long for connection.

And I think most people would totally agree with that.

Despite faster internet connections, better Wi-Fi spots, and more ways to stay connected than ever before,

our lives are feeling less and less connected.

We desire healthy friendships, but we feel less equipped to make them and foster them.

According to a study from January 2020, before we were hoarding toilet paper or facing

some of the political and social struggles that has marked this past year, 61% of Americans

admitted to be lonely.

Amber Lee's studies say that depression, divorce, anxiety, isolation,

child abuse, and suicide all hit new highs this past year. And it's time for the body of

Christ to reach out to help those who are struggling. In her new devotional, the Friendship Initiative,

Amberly dives into the friendships and connections Jesus made

to reveal 31 keys for building relationships,

such as exercising grace, asking and answering questions, having compassion, exercising humility, being

present, reaching out to those who are different and more. But first, a word from our sponsor.

We still have our coupon code available for you guys if you wanted to do online counseling with

Christian counselors. It's all online. It's via Zoom. You can pick who you want your counselor to be very

reputable. They all have counseling degrees. So this isn't like some Miranda on the internet.

My mom kind of has a personal testimony to it yes so I actually have done

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