Becoming Gertrude

" Come in - I'll get us some lemonade."

With those words, Gertrude Floyd welcomed a teenage Jan Peterson onto her back porch and into a lifelong bond of friendship. Ad like her friend, Jan now opens her own life to us, offering five elements - caring, accepting, serving, hospitality, and encouragement - that lead to rich, faithful friendships. In these pages Jan speaks into the everyday rhythms of life, encouraging, guiding, and identifying the ways we can flourish as we, too, are Becoming Gertrude to our friends.

So come in, let's have some lemonade.

Becoming Gertrude is one woman’s wisdom on the beauty of spiritual friendship and God’s unfolding grace over the course of a life lived for Him. Jan uses the term spiritual friendship to capture this idea of journeying with others through life, sharing experiences and wisdom and seeking God together. In Becoming Gertrude, Jan wants to be your spiritual friend, sharing what she’s learned and painting a picture of what you might uncover as you seek to develop these kinds of relationships in your own life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: The Way of Spiritual Friendship

Caring: Choosing to See Others
Acceptance: Receiving What Is Offered
Service: Caring in Action
Hospitality: Reaching Out and Bringing In
Encouragement: Building Others Up

Epilogue

Afterword by Eugene Peterson