That Time I Posted on Facebook Asking for Friends: A True Story

I've wanted to share this story on Sips for a while. It goes back about 13 years and if we've spent any amount of time together, I may have told you this story.  My mission with this blog is to share my stories and things I've learned and inspire you to think about things or see things differently. This one is about listening to that "little voice" in your head. So here's the story.

(Editor's note: this was a loooong time ago so I'm telling it the way I remember it - even if the exact details aren't 1000% perfect.) 

I've always been the type of person who had a large group of good friends. I value friendships and put a lot of energy and love into my friendships. When I was in my late 20's (maybe 30?) I found myself in a new phase of adulthood when many of my friends from my 20's had gotten married or moved. Seemingly overnight, I went from someone who had a big group of friends to someone who was searching for a friend to go out with on a Saturday night.  

I was sitting at my desk in my office in Florida one day. This was when Facebook was pretty new and I was still figuring out how and when to use it. I was sitting there thinking about my sudden lack of available friends to hang out with and this voice, very loud and very clear, popped into my head: "Post on Facebook that you're putting together a happy hour on Thursday night and that anyone who sees the post and wants to join is invited." 

WHAT??? How desperate would that sound? How pathetic, doing a public call-out for people to hang out with.  So, of course, I did it.  The voice was just so convincing and I had about 17 Facebook friends anyways so I really had very little to lose.  

I posted and waited and I think 1 person finally commented that they'd be there. Whew! I wouldn't be happy hour'ing solo. Then ANOTHER voice in my head chimed in: "You need to invite Lindsey separately. She'll see this post, but doesn't know you well enough to just show up without a direct invitation." Oh my goodness. Wasn't a public post enough? Now I was being asked to DM a girl I barely knew?? So, of course, I did it.  She responded immediately that she'd love to join and would bring her friend Karissa. 

Thursday night came and my happy hour was a success - about 6 people showed up. A friend I knew brought a friend of hers who I didn't know. Another friend brought an old college friend.  That happy hour launched a whole new friend group. We each added more friends and have spent the past 13 years traveling the world together, marrying each other (1 marriage came out of the group), having babies and doing all the things friends do. We would all look back at that happy hour as the beginning of something important in our lives. 

About a year after that happy hour, I was at Bible study with Lindsey - the girl who I sent a separate DM inviting her to the happy hour. I hadn't ever told her the story about the voice, the reason behind the Facebook post and the reason behind the DM to her. We were reflecting back on the past year and how blessed we were to have such a great group of friends. She told me something that stopped me in my tracks. She said "you know, just a couple of weeks before you invited me to that happy hour, I literally prayed for friends. I had just moved back after college and was missing a friend group. Then I got your message and knew it was an answered prayer." 

That was just the first of many times a voice has so clearly given me direction in life. I believe the voice is God or my spirit guides. Whatever you believe, I know there are forces beyond us guiding us. If you hear a voice tell you to do something, you may want to listen to it. Even if it seems as silly as a Facebook post about a happy hour, give it a shot. It could be the first domino that changes the trajectory of your life. The past two years for me have been FULL of voices telling me to do things and I have always said yes. So far, it's worked out brilliantly. 

Oh and that girl Karissa that Lindsey invited to happy hour? She's one of my very best friends to this.

Are we friends on social media? Let’s be. :) Facebook and Instagram here. I’m even into LinkedIn. See you here, there and everywhere. xx