A Sacred Search — Carol McLeod Ministries

A Note from Carol: One of the greatest joys of my ministry is introducing you to voices that inspire us to love Jesus more deeply. Today, I’m honored to share Natalie Runion with you—a pastor, author, and founder of Raised to Stay, a ministry that encourages weary and wounded leaders to remain faithful to their calling. Natalie’s newest book, I Don’t Even Like Women, is a powerful and vulnerable exploration of female relationships in the church, filled with honesty, humor, and hope. Through her story, Natalie reminds us that even in seasons of disappointment, God is faithful to heal our hearts, redeem our relationships, and invite us into deeper community with one another.

Sisters, God hears the desperate whispers in our hearts for friendship, and I like to think it is why he is so intentional in his Word to point us toward our first relationship with God—as we discovered in the garden—and then friendship with one another.

Observe the relationship between Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings 2:2, where we are told Elijah wanted to ascend alone. “And Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, for the LORD has told me to go to Bethel.’ But Elisha replied, ‘As surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!’ So they went down together to Bethel.”

We need friends who will witness the power and plan of God in our lives with their own eyes and not abandon us when the mission goes off course or gets dangerous.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–10: “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.”

Solomon is letting us know that even though we can do life alone, why would we if we don’t have to? He is helping us understand the danger in solitude, for without another in our life we won’t have that iron to sharpen us or to lead us away from sin when we stumble.

He goes on to say in verses 11–13, “Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”

What a gift we have in friendship given to us from our good Father! We were meant to live this life across tables, not through the screens of our phones, online and isolated. Friendship offers us those who will fight with us and for us through prayer, words of encouragement, and even correction to protect us. Biblical friendship offers words of life in barren seasons and hope when all feels hopeless.

Biblical sisterhood is an invitation to community built on the Great Commandment of loving God and loving one another as Christ loves his Church, and that love is unconditional, free, and for us all.

Rewrite the Script

For those who have been on a lifetime search for friendship, it might feel far away and even unobtainable. It seems easy for others, but experiences and observations have led us to different

conclusions.

You’ve believed you just get along better with males, that you’re too loud or overbearing for other women, and that you like being an independent woman who doesn’t need a sorority of sisters or gaggle of girls to make your life complete.

I used to believe all this myself, and I often find myself still fighting these lies. My hope in writing this book is that together we begin the tedious but sacred process of rewriting the script over this area of our lives.

Since the very beginning of creation, Satan has been trying to rewrite what God has already written. In Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 we are told, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’” (NIV).

This one question causes Eve to doubt what her loving Creator had spoken to her and Adam, instructions meant to protect them and keep them in fellowship with the one true God. Eve is able to recite the script of her Creator and responds to Satan, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’” (vv. 2–3 NIV).

Eve is confident in what she heard God say, but all it takes is

one miniscule word reinterpretation in the script to change the entire plot. “‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (vv. 4–5 NIV).

It would be in this one split second of believing a false narrative from the enemy of her soul that would not only change Adam and Eve’s lives, but make them aware and ashamed of their nakedness, separating them from God.

Separating all men and women from God.

To redeem this separation, God sent his only Son, Jesus, to sacrifice himself. Jesus came to take on all our sin and shame to pay our debts so we can spend eternity with the One who created us for relationship with God—and one another. Satan may have tried to change the narrative, but God has always had the better script and now we have a choice: Do we allow Satan to change the narrative and give him control of the pen to our story, or do we stick to the script we know to be true, the Word of God?

It is my belief that, as women, we all want a friendship we will take with us to our graves. It is my prayer that in the pages ahead, you grab hold of hope and the promise that you are worthy and deserving of sacred sisterhood. So, let’s rewrite a few of these false narratives and replace them with the gospel truth:

God loves women. God loves you.

And I pray by the end of our time together you will come out of hiding and be able to say to one another,

“I need you.”

And maybe even,

“I like you.”

In this honest and heartfelt conversation, Carol McLeod sits down with Natalie Runion to talk about the complicated dynamics of female relationships within the church. Natalie shares her personal journey from struggling to connect with other women to discovering the beauty of true sisterhood. Together, they unpack issues like gossip, comparison, and emotional immaturity, while offering biblical wisdom on cultivating healthy, Christ centered friendships. This episode is a powerful reminder of the importance of unity, vulnerability, and finding our identity in Jesus rather than in how we measure up to others.