Book excerpt: Are you open to re-imagining your relationship with God as a friendship? Do you want to be transformed into the person God wants you to be? Friendship with God transforms us. As we learn to trust God as our Divine Friend, it has a transforming effect on our whole lives. It affects how we pray, our relationships with each other and the way we understand our everyday lives. It changes the way we think and feel, what we desire and long for, the way we see each other and how we seek to live our lives in the world. We could say our friendship with God creates the climate in which you and I become the people God wants us to be. In his latest book, Friendship with God, Trevor Hudson digs into these two interwoven themes of friendship and personal transformation. He explains that friendship is a helpful analogy for the intimate kind of relationship God wants with us. Put very simply, the gospel invites you and me into friendship with God. When we become friends with Jesus, we are drawn into God’s greater dream for the world. This indeed is the purpose of our lives on earth. We are created to become friends of God and to partner with God in making his dream a greater reality in the world around us. Topics that are addressed include: Living Beyond Loneliness God’s Passionate Longing for Friendship Getting to Know Our Friend Understanding Prayer as Deepening Friendship Looking Outward Together Exploring Our Friend’s Address Book Discerning What Our Friend Wants Us to Do Blessing Others as Our Friend Has Blessed Us Facing Our Fears with Our Friend Asking Our Friend the Hardest Question The creator God who loves us and set the whole universe into existence, and who sustains our lives in the immediacy of each moment, wants our intimate friendship. As you explore this good news you will be encouraged to see your faith and your life in a totally new way.