We’re all familiar with the movie and if you haven’t I’m sure you have had an experience of your own where you can recall an encounter with mean girls. A time where you felt personally attacked by another girl. We all have those awful memories of middle school, of wanting to fit in with the popular girls or that story of a fight you had with a best friend, a betrayal that you never let go of. And it sounds so silly, something that you think ends with high school. But the truth is, this concept of mean girls, of women being catty and unable to get along with each other, has become a common lie that most women and men have been led to believe. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard girls say, “I just get along with guys better.” When you never hear a guy say the opposite.
It’s so silly to me, yet at the same time saddening. That the concept of a guy’s girl has become a popular trend. That we as women are so quick to ditch our femininity in turn for being one of the guys. Now I’m not saying we all need to wear pink bows in our hair and trade in our jeans for dresses, but I am saying we as women need to be proud of how God created us. That we are different from men, that we do think differently, and that there are some areas where we can only be grown and encouraged in by other women. I think it’s important to really analyze the meaning behind that common statement that many of us, including myself, have thrown out, “I just get along with guys better.” Because I think behind that statement lies a lot of hurt and resentment which grew into a lie that many of us believe. 
Having made it through middle school, high school, and college, I myself have experienced a lot of instances in my own life where I’ve felt betrayed by a fellow sister. I have lost a few friendships over petty fights, with boys almost always being the cause. I have had friendships where it seemed like the basis of our friendship was found in gossip. Or friends that seemed more like top competitors, with comparison battles being the driver of that friendship. I have held grudges. I have put down other girls, in order to feel better about myself. I have been consumed with the thoughts of the girls who didn’t like me. And at some point I had made other girls my enemy. But I’m not the only one. Sadly many women have done the same thing.
But I am here to tell you that women can get along. That a group of seven very different women were placed together and lived with one another for two months 24/7 without any drama. That we spent two months crammed in a four walled room, with one bathroom, and one mirror and didn’t get into a single fight. That we formed healthy and open relationships. Where misunderstandings and hurt feelings were talked about openly. Where we encouraged and spoke life into one another. Where we took the lies that we believed and replaced them with truth. Where we carried each others burdens and held each other through the hard times. Where we felt each others losses and mourned them like our own. Where we fought demons, all while holding each others hands as we walked into the dark places. Where we danced all night, singing Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs. Where we shared secrets and fears. Where we huddled around a tiny laptop for movie nights and over quoted lines from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with it never getting old. Where painful goodbyes were said and trying times endured together. Where we witnessed things that have changed our lives forever, things that only the seven of us could ever understand.
The women of Team Phoenix have changed my life forever. They’ve shown me what friendships should look like, what fellowship and community with other women could be like. I have fallen in love with each and every one of them. We became more than friends, we became sisters. Being on an all woman’s team has been one of the biggest blessings. I have been grown and challenged in so many ways, in ways that could only be done by other women. I now see other women, not as the enemy, but as a blessing. As others who can relate and offer encouragement and advice.
Through out the Race, God has reafirmed to me that community is not an option. That I need others in my life to help me with my walk with God. That I need other Godly women to call me up to be that woman God has created me to be. I was devastasted when we had a last minute team change a few weeks back. I automatically thought the worst and put God back into that box I love to keep Him. I thought there is no way a group of girls could ever get along that well again. That it must of been a fluke or that surely I wouldn’t be as lucky this time. But God loves to break my expectations and prove me wrong. Team Phoenix was amazing but so is this new team of all ladies, Team LionHeart. I have enjoyed every moment of being on an all women’s team. And through it all I am starting to see that any relationship, whether between women or men, whether friendships, marriage, or family, any relationship with God at the center will thrive. That mean girls do exist, but not all girls are mean. That community and fellowship between women, when it’s God centered, brings life and can be one of the biggest blessings to our faith walk.
So now to encourage you; Are there any relationships in your life that aren’t giving life? Give it to God and see how He can redeem!
