Over the past three years, I have endured a painful season of hurt and betrayal by people close to me. What made these incredibly painful experiences is how blindsided I felt by the other person's actions.

I am one of the hosts for our Girl Listen Up Podcast…In one of our episodes, we talk about friendships and our personal experiences with them. In the episode, I share how I went through a season of loneliness. Since someone out there could relate to my story, I wanted to go more in depth to encourage you.

For the past six years, I’ve struggled with dips into depression and anxiety in my fight against PTSD. In recent months, I’ve felt stronger, happier and healthier. I wondered what has been the most helpful to turning my thinking around – back towards God?

How could it end after that renewing of our commitment to one another? And after we had discovered so many gifts and abilities of our members? To add to the angst is my own personal experience with loss.

I am often not good at establishing, or maintaining boundaries. There are times when I feel like boundaries are “selfish” – a way to protect my interests when I “could” or “should” be doing something for someone else.

Almost from the time I could talk, I often got in trouble for what I said. I was very good at saying exactly what I wanted – and if it was mean, and if it was rude, if it’s what I wanted to say, I said it. It was my most effective weapon after being hurt or angered.