Friendships are an important part of life. Friends come, friends go, but the road between the stay and leave involve cherished moments and hard lessons learned that teach you something about yourself. What I have found in my 20 years of life is that the best friendships are those built on being intentional. What's so great about intentional friendships? Well...

1. Intentional friendships are friendships built based on a mutual love of God.

Friends coming together to discuss the Word and the trials (and joys) of life is truly amazing. Being able to discuss deep theological matters and personal revelations gathered from Scriptural passages is so awesome. Trust me, it's great!

2. Intentional friends will encourage you.

Friends who are intentional will encourage one another to strive toward Christ during all walks of life. I have constantly had my friends encourage me to do things like spend time in the Word, look at God's creations on bad days, and live a life honoring to the Lord. All of this may seem pretty cliche, but the constant encouragement is so refreshing when the days are tough.

3. Intentional friends will pray for you.

Likely one of the most wonderful things about intentional friendships is that when you need prayer, intentional friends will pray for you. I have come to these friends with so many things without fear of judgement because I knew that they would pray for me and help me find God in the midst of life's trials.

All in all, what I can say is that the godly, intentional women in my life have helped me through the craziest of times. Not only that, but they presented me with an example of how to live life in a godly manner. I can honestly say that when the weight of the world is too much to bear, those few friends have been the ones to help me through it most. I'm so grateful for them!