The Makings of Genuine Sisterhood

Making real friendships over the years for me at times has proven difficult and confusing. It has taken me awhile to find "my people." This past Saturday, reminded me yet again of the important need for real, genuine sisterhood in my life.

On a whim over the last month, Rakhi, Jenna, and I decided to host together a BIS brunch to ladies of southeast Michigan. What started off as pondering over a Facebook message, turned into the loveliest morning with over 40 women present. 
Great food, beautiful women, an awesome talk on authentic sisterhood by Mary, and did I mention we had mimosas coming out of our ears?! ;-) I don't know how to describe but there is something so enriching for my soul to gather with other women and just be together. 
Mary gave a heartfelt talk that hit home with all of us on what makes up genuine sisterhood. Her inspiration came from C.S. Lewis' words on friendship. But being the spicy gal Mary is she tweaked them a bit to relate to talking on sisterhood: "Friendship is born at that moment where one person says to another: What, you too? I thought I was the only one."
True sisterhood begins to blossom and grow when you can look at each other and say "What you too? I thought I was the only one!" Sometimes as women it is so easy to feel alone; alone in our jobs, vocations, marriages, and certainly our struggles and burdens. We cannot have true, genuine community if we hid behind our masks and keep pretending. 
Mary specifically mentioned affirmation, honesty, and unity in prayer as tangible things that make up genuine sisterhood. We have to be willing to be real with each other. Lay down our messes and stop hiding behind the allure of a picture perfect Instagrammed life. We as women need to be each other's cheerleaders and affirm the heck outta each other!! This is crazy important especially as the culture today does more using, abusing, and objectifying of women than has ever been done before. And how can it all work together if we are not united in prayer?! 
All of us need each other, no matter our vocation or job status. As the culture grows more toxic, women of all ages need each other for support and encouragement. Each of us has gifts that we can share and use to build others up. And somehow when we can come together united in our faith, the world seems a little less scary and threatening. I become encouraged and know I am really not alone. Some of the richest and most meaningful friendships I have developed over the last year have felt like the words of that C.S. Lewis quote.  When I know I am not alone it gives me courage to keep trucking onward...and to share that with other women is exactly what makes up genuine sisterhood.

What do you think makes genuine sisterhood? Have you ever experienced that with a community of women in your own life? How has that made a positive impact in your life?