So I have been reading the book Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris. I had seen it in Barnes and Nobles every time I went and was intrigued by the adorable cover, so when it popped up on my recommended list on Amazon, I saw it as a sign that I needed to purchase it. So my plan is to blog about the three different parts.
Before I get into part 1 let me set this up for you. The whole book is about why courtship is a good idea to choose instead of dating. Now, I nor my friends have ever chosen this method and I'm not sure I ever will go for it, but it is a very interesting idea and you can still learn a lot nonetheless.
ok Part 1 is entitled: Rethinking Romance
A point he makes about dating/courtship is that the main point of it should be to glorify God...
"Living to glorify God means doing everything...for Him, His way, to point to His greatness, and reflect His goodness."
He then gives five characteristics that are essential to a successful, God glorifying relationship:
1. Joyful obedience to God's word
2. The selfless desire to do what's best for the other person
"Sincere Christlike love for the guy or girl you're in a relationship with is the natural outgrowth of love for God. The two are so closely intertwined that it's difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins--they weave in and out of each other. This is why when Jesus asked to name the greatest commandment he gave two: to love God and to love others. They can't be separated. When we serve others we're serving our Lord (Matthew 25:40). Jesus laid his life down for us to show us what love is, and he calls us to follow His example (1 John 3:16). The Word tells us to humble ourselves, to consider others better than ourselves, and to look to their interests first (Philippians 2:3-4)."
3. The humble embrace of community
4. A commitment to guard the sacredness of sex
5. A deep satisfaction in God
"God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him."
Some other awesome quotes I got from this part:
"We can each rest in the knowledge that God is sovereign over our life's situation. No matter where we are today or what mistakes we've made in the past, He has given us everything we need to glorify Him right now."
"Wisdom is simply the ownership of insight."
"Patience is important not only in waiting for the right time to start a relationship, but alse in allowing it to unfold at a healthy pace."
"Wisdom enables romance to really soar. It anchors it, disciplines it, and brings it to its highest potential. Again the tension is good."
"The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want, but in that we want it too much."
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
"Remember God is interested in the journey, not just the destination. It's a mistake to view the process of deciding how, when, and with whom we begin a relationship as something to "get through" so we can move on to courtship and marriage. God is in no rush. his interest in all this is not limited to getting us married--He wants to use this process, and all the questions and uncertainties it involves, to refine us, sanctify us, and increase our faith. Our responsibility is to love Him, stude His word, deepen our relationship with Him, and to learn to evaluate our choices in light of biblical wisom. If we're doing these things, we can make our decisions in the confidence that we aren't somehow missing God's will."
This next quote came from the book Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
"Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seemig prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and music; Perhaps...perhaps...love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden hearted rose slipping from it's green sheath."
He then goes to write...
"Perhaps after all our worries and questions, we'll discover that all along God had the right thing at the right time for us. Perhaps His plan is more wonderful than anything we could create by ourselves--whether it comes with "pomp and blare" or quietly, "like an old friend....
Perhaps...perhaps we should entrust our questions of How? and Who? and When? into His tender care."
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Success
When looking up the definition of success from dictionary.com the following popped up:
I can totally relate to this person, I mean when I was in high school success to me meant graduating at the top of my class in order to go to a top notch school get a degree go to med school become a doctor and make big bucks. However, since being here I know God has no calling for me in the medical field (when my two roommates talk about their shadowing experiences I at least cringe once in every conversation when the words blood or needles come up) and I know God has no calling for me in the business world (not peopley enough, and when you are interacting with people I feel like it's just to butter them up to get something). This has left me with the following two careers: broadcasting, non profit work. Now i'm hoping I can do both. Help out the world: the poor, needy, abused, abandoned, lost by means of my amazing broadcasting career. However, God could very well have it in his plan for me to do full time social work (my mom would cringe if she read this). Her whole reasoning for sending me to Wake was in order for me to get a high paying successful job- you get what you pay for right? But I recently have come to realize that whatever God has in store for me is much greater than that...He has allowed me the opportunity to go to this school that will put me in a grand canyon of debt (got that from Katy) but at the same time, I do not think he would have blessed me with this opportunity and somewhat burden if it wasn't in his plan for me, i'm here for a reason---not to get a multi million dollar paying job necessarily, I don't know what it is to be quite honest but i'm here so I just need to be patient and let God reveal his perfect plan for me and my life...it's far greater than what I can even imagine i'm sure....
1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like
When looking at these I have to wonder does the first definition necessarily mean the second definition? I was reading through a few blogs this morning to pass the time at work (so far 40 minutes has been passes only 4 hours and 20 min to go!) and I found a blog that stated the following:
"As we're washing dishes, cooking, folding clothes, writing papers, taking tests (all of which I do plenty of), we shouldn't be thinking "God, I will do something great for you, if you'll just give me something great to do." We so often take the world's definitions of "success" and "accomplishment" instead of God's perspective. Often times it is those small, everyday things that equal greatness in God's eyes. This is quite mind-boggling to me, since I have pretty much been an over-achiever my whole life. This is not something that I am proud of, because it often means that I put my achievements over and above Christ. To even think that my calling in life might be something that I find very plain and ordinary shakes me up a little bit. Especially as a college student, I'm surrounded by "be all that you can be" and "aim for success" (which, translated, means make lots of money). "
When looking at these I have to wonder does the first definition necessarily mean the second definition? I was reading through a few blogs this morning to pass the time at work (so far 40 minutes has been passes only 4 hours and 20 min to go!) and I found a blog that stated the following:
"As we're washing dishes, cooking, folding clothes, writing papers, taking tests (all of which I do plenty of), we shouldn't be thinking "God, I will do something great for you, if you'll just give me something great to do." We so often take the world's definitions of "success" and "accomplishment" instead of God's perspective. Often times it is those small, everyday things that equal greatness in God's eyes. This is quite mind-boggling to me, since I have pretty much been an over-achiever my whole life. This is not something that I am proud of, because it often means that I put my achievements over and above Christ. To even think that my calling in life might be something that I find very plain and ordinary shakes me up a little bit. Especially as a college student, I'm surrounded by "be all that you can be" and "aim for success" (which, translated, means make lots of money). "
I can totally relate to this person, I mean when I was in high school success to me meant graduating at the top of my class in order to go to a top notch school get a degree go to med school become a doctor and make big bucks. However, since being here I know God has no calling for me in the medical field (when my two roommates talk about their shadowing experiences I at least cringe once in every conversation when the words blood or needles come up) and I know God has no calling for me in the business world (not peopley enough, and when you are interacting with people I feel like it's just to butter them up to get something). This has left me with the following two careers: broadcasting, non profit work. Now i'm hoping I can do both. Help out the world: the poor, needy, abused, abandoned, lost by means of my amazing broadcasting career. However, God could very well have it in his plan for me to do full time social work (my mom would cringe if she read this). Her whole reasoning for sending me to Wake was in order for me to get a high paying successful job- you get what you pay for right? But I recently have come to realize that whatever God has in store for me is much greater than that...He has allowed me the opportunity to go to this school that will put me in a grand canyon of debt (got that from Katy) but at the same time, I do not think he would have blessed me with this opportunity and somewhat burden if it wasn't in his plan for me, i'm here for a reason---not to get a multi million dollar paying job necessarily, I don't know what it is to be quite honest but i'm here so I just need to be patient and let God reveal his perfect plan for me and my life...it's far greater than what I can even imagine i'm sure....
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Here comes the sun...
So recently I have been blogging how I wish I could go back to the good ol days of high school and the friendships that I used to have, and I do so so so much. But I have also realized that for the first time I am content and fully confident that this is where I need to be in my life.
God has put me and provided me the opportunity to be on the campus of Wake Forest to be a friend to people.
God has provided me with two wonderful apartment mates who love me and care about me AND also love the Lord.
God has provided me with 5 amazing friends from home who I know no matter where we are in life I can pick up the phone and call them for whatever reason.
God has provided me with a loving family who although sometimes thinks my decisions about my future are crazy, still try to support me.
God has provided me with so much and I am such a blessed person. I'm going to start living in the moment, enjoy my time now so in three years i'm not blogging about how I wish I was still in college. I feel like I wished away my high school days, but that's not going to happen now.
God has put me and provided me the opportunity to be on the campus of Wake Forest to be a friend to people.
God has provided me with two wonderful apartment mates who love me and care about me AND also love the Lord.
God has provided me with 5 amazing friends from home who I know no matter where we are in life I can pick up the phone and call them for whatever reason.
God has provided me with a loving family who although sometimes thinks my decisions about my future are crazy, still try to support me.
God has provided me with so much and I am such a blessed person. I'm going to start living in the moment, enjoy my time now so in three years i'm not blogging about how I wish I was still in college. I feel like I wished away my high school days, but that's not going to happen now.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
"Look at this photograph, everytime i do it makes me laugh..."
"Of all the relations,
Friends hold the best place...
No commitments,
No tangles,
No ego,
No fuss,
No breakups,
Just two hearts
Sharing the best and the worst!"- Anonymous.
As those of you who read this blog know I recently took a beach trip with two of my friends from high school. I honestly, was not expecting to have a super great time. I was mainly going to get away from NC and the stress of moving into an apartment and learning to live on "my own". I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong....
Going down there Jenny and i talked the whole way, which is kind of crazy considering there are very few people I can talk to for 3.5 hours straight...The beach was SO relaxing and the weather was beautiful. Besides having to take a dip in the pool and a run through the kids play area on Tuesday the heat was bearable. I don't think i've ever had a more relaxing beach trip.
But now that this trip is over, I don't want the way we were acting towards each other down there to change. We were free of reserve. We were not mad at each other, angry, jealous, bitter. We were just three friends enjoying a nice summer getaway. We could laugh, talk, goof off, and just be the three girls we were in high school again. How I hope and pray that this will continue. I love them both so much and their friendships mean so much to me, and I hope they both realize this.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Divine
So I just finished reading Divine by Karen Kingsbury and when I was told about the book it was referred to as a modern day Redeeming Love. I loved the book so obviously Divine had very high expectations, all of which were blew out of the water because the book was SO amazing! I have recently been researching a lot of non profit organizations trying to figure out which type I can see myself working with, and this story really made me want to work with abused women/girls. Basically it's amazing, and you should read it. Here are a few quotes from the book!
"That is the love of Christ. Full and whole, without judgement or reservation. Unconditional. When you fall, Jesus holds out a hand. When you turn away, He stands at the door of your heart, waiting, always waiting."
"The problem was that once in a while Peter had a tendency to take his eyes off Jesus...We must...must keep our eyes on Jesus. no matter what our flesh tells us."
"Jesus died to take all the pain from yesterday, to offer people a new life, a new start today...The power of Christ wasn't a one time fix. He would keep working in our lives today and tomorrow and everyday that we wake up believing the truth."
As you can see these quotes are so powerful, inspiring, reassuring, comforting. I will warn you that the book can be hard to read when describing some of the events that occurred to the characters...BUT it is definitely worth the read. If you read it let me know what you think!!!
"That is the love of Christ. Full and whole, without judgement or reservation. Unconditional. When you fall, Jesus holds out a hand. When you turn away, He stands at the door of your heart, waiting, always waiting."
"The problem was that once in a while Peter had a tendency to take his eyes off Jesus...We must...must keep our eyes on Jesus. no matter what our flesh tells us."
"Jesus died to take all the pain from yesterday, to offer people a new life, a new start today...The power of Christ wasn't a one time fix. He would keep working in our lives today and tomorrow and everyday that we wake up believing the truth."
As you can see these quotes are so powerful, inspiring, reassuring, comforting. I will warn you that the book can be hard to read when describing some of the events that occurred to the characters...BUT it is definitely worth the read. If you read it let me know what you think!!!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Bittersweet memories
Yesterday we celebrated Ashley's very limited time of singleness at the lake. All the bridesmaids were there and together for the first time since finding out about the wedding! It was a fabulous day filled with boat riding, tubing, cornhole, laying out, and of course eating. It honestly probably makes my top ten days of my life thus far (at least of the past five years). However, when thinking about it once I got home last night I was overwhelmed with sadness.
Sadness because I know days like that are limited. Now three out of the six are engaged. About to start a whole different adventure, and I am SO excited for all three of them but it kind of makes me feel left behind. This is an adventure that we can't go on together. I know this is very selfish of me, and I know when/if I find my "somebody" then I will feel the same way and be ready for the adventure that they are on right now, but for right now i'm sad. Sad because our future is unclear. Our friendships are about to change quite drastically and I don't know how much or how little but I know it is about to change.
Another wave of sadness that hit me was that yesterday was what we used to be. Friends that could just laugh and have no concerns or reservations, no awkwardness. I missed that, and for the most part it was there yesterday. I so greatly wanted the day to never end to never have to go back to our current homes whether it be at school, in raleigh, or at our lifelong homes. But I had to remember that really we won't ever be able to go back. We've all changed since then, we've all went to college, we've all said stuff that we regret, we've all formed different relationships, we've all grown up into young adults.
This thought brought me to realize that it's pretty amazing that we've actually been able maintain pretty fair relationships this long. I mean out of 6 people we went to 5 different colleges. That's 5 different cities scattered all over NC. To be honest, the only time we ever really see each other is during school breaks or the summer. We will occasionally go visit at school but with so many different schedules this can be difficult. So that made me happy, happy that we've held onto each other for this long. I love my friends, especially those 5 and always will...all of them. No matter how angry or irritated with get with each other or harsh words we may say to each other they will always have a special place in my heart...
aec.aem.alg.jeb.jec.mhmb.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Plus One & Natalie Grant - Whenever you need somebody
So I think this song is an absolute classic. I hadn't heard it in awhile and decided i was way overdue. This song makes me desire to be this kind of friend. I mean I really wish I could be there for my friends "whenever they need somebody". I have recently realized how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends in my life.
They help me
they laugh with me
they cry with me
they vent with me
they're silent with me
they talk with me
They're always there for me right when I need them.
I'm so thankful for this blessing God has put into my life. So, thank you friends. You make me who I am and help me grow and become the women I wish to someday be.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
I wanna leave a Legacy.
So, it's official. I am a grown up, as I set on my kitchen counter in my apartment on Saturday night it was so surreal to me that I am old enough to have my own apartment with two of my amazing friends. I think this is going to be a wonderful chapter in my life. Tomorrow night I have to go home and as excited as I am about hanging out with my friends and seeing my family and Lizzy, i'm kind of sad that I have to leave for just a few nights.
The other night I was at one of my friends houses and we started talking about when Jesus was coming back. I really need to read through revelation. There's really interesting, scary, and exciting stuff in it.
Today I was showering and I had the radio on and the song Legacy came on. Let me just tell you when I listen to this song I just want to go out and do something good for the world. It's so inspiring and really makes me think about how I spend my time and what I really need to be focused on...I'll post it as an entry as soon as I post this...give it a listen...it's AMAZING!
I'm reading the book Divine right now by Karen Kingsbury. It really makes me want to work for a nonprofit that helps women who have been abused and mistreated. I really need to look into this...
The other night I was at one of my friends houses and we started talking about when Jesus was coming back. I really need to read through revelation. There's really interesting, scary, and exciting stuff in it.
Today I was showering and I had the radio on and the song Legacy came on. Let me just tell you when I listen to this song I just want to go out and do something good for the world. It's so inspiring and really makes me think about how I spend my time and what I really need to be focused on...I'll post it as an entry as soon as I post this...give it a listen...it's AMAZING!
I'm reading the book Divine right now by Karen Kingsbury. It really makes me want to work for a nonprofit that helps women who have been abused and mistreated. I really need to look into this...
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