Little Women

Gorgeous new movie entitled Little Women just came out this December. Since my little girl and I have both read and loved the book, we wanted to see it. Plus, she had a free movie ticket from Frozen burning a hole in her pocket. So we loved it!

The movie of course tells the story of the four girls who were growing up in the Civil War era world of New England.  There were several sad scenes as one of the girls dies. It made us both sob.
Grief is never an easy place to be.

However, I really enjoyed the movie for the simple reason that they stayed true to the story and really dived into the characters maybe in a way that when done well simply allows the story to fly, allows the true depth of meaning in the story to fly. It doesn't try to bring something out of nothing or create tension that isn't there. The story is told for the sake of the story. And I love that.

Also, the depth of the poverty, the contrast between those who have and those who do not, the dependence that females had on males, and that contrast wasn't preached, it was merely explained to the audience who didn't know, without an agenda. Just merely talking through how life was.

I forgot how carefree the female gender in the first world nations can be. The vast majority of women in my generation, in my country, have it very well. I can work, hold office, pay taxes, vote, and keep my own pay in a way that centuries of women have never been able to.  Truly we live in a different place then even a hundred years ago.   I:m grateful.

That being said, the story also inspired me to write. I find that most of the stories I loved growing up were about girls who wrote. Louise May Alcott. Lucy Maud Montgomery. Stories. Writers. Journalism. Women who couldn't get it out of their head and thus had to write it down. More and more I find that's exactly where I am. I cant stop writing. I don't know how to not write anymore.
Its like the time has finally come to write.

To feverishly sit and write. So I will.
By the grace of God.

Holy Sexuality and the Gospel

Book Review -

Holy Sexuality and the Gospel - Christopher Yuan

Sex, Desire and Relationships shaped by God's grand story

A couple of months ago, my husband preached a series of sermons on relationships in our church. He spoke regarding marriage, sexuality and another elder in our church preached regarding singleness.
This book, Holy Sexuality and the gospel, was one of the references they gave and I finally got around to reading it this last month or so.

It has been an incredible read regarding how God has addressed sexuality at every level, and a call to holiness in the midst of this broken world.  I can't even begin to dive into the vast amount of knowledge that Yuan walks through in these pages.

His main theme throughout the book is that  "The world tells us those of us with same-sex attraction that our sexuality is the core of who we are. But God's word paints quite a different picture....my true idenity is in Jesus Christ alone." -pg. 3

Walking through the concept and weaving in his own story, Yuan asks the question "Is sexuality who we really are?"  He answers it, "Thus rejecting our inherent essence and replacing it simply with what we feel or do is in reality an attempted coup d'etat against our Creator. We don't need to find our identity; our identity is given by God." - pg. 10

I think what struck me so greatly about this book is that it wasn't a drastic shift from all the other relationship books. What was so encouraging about it for me was that he said all the things that we have said privately for years. That marriage isn't the ultimate goal of life. That homesexuals aren't being saved from homesexuality, but they like all humans need Christ. The purpose of our evanglism towards those who don't believe is not sudden removal of all homesxual tendencies. It is salvation from sin. Not salvation from homesexuality .

Also, he has some profound thoughts regarding the biblical teachings on singleness. "I'll say it again, rether then think of singlesness as a temporary state before marriage, think of marriage as a temporary state before eternity. The presence of both married and single people in the church reminds us that we're between the ages."

Its just one of the most excellent books regarding singleness, marriage, holy sexuality, homesexuality, and the Bible that I've ever read.

His comments regarding marriage are incredibly insightful as well. "Marriage may be an expression of fiedlity, but its not the highest ideal of fidelity. God is. No one is more faithful then God. Marriage may be an expression of devotion, but no one is more devoted then God himself. Marriage may be an expression of sacrifice, but no sacrifice is greater then the One who gave his life for us! Marriage may be where family begins, but the only ture and lasting family is the family of God, the body of Christ." - pg. 78

"Thus, the biblical opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality -that's not the ulitmate goal. But the opposite of homesxuality is holiness. As a matter of fact, the opposite of any sin struggle is holiness." - pg. 52

"Godly marriage and godly singleness are two sides of the same coin. We should stop emphasizing only one without the other.  Both are good. Holy sexuality - chasitity in singleness and faithfulness in marriage - is God's good standard for everyone." - pg. 52

This book is rich and full of incredible insights into biblical sexuality. Please read it!

Concluding the book, Yuan includes two-three chapters regarding how to love a friend or family member who confesses same sex attraction and some very practicial responses. I found that one of the most helpful aspects of this book. I would highly recommend this author for his depth of study, his knowledge of both the homesxual world and the complexities of Christianity in this modern day.  He answered many questions that have swirled around in my head regarding homosexuality and the Gospel.
Very thankful to have had the chance to read it!

Disappointment

Yesterday, I was listening to this talk by Paul Tripp, regarding disappointment.

 It was a really encouraging quote, so I thought I would share it.

"Rather then being disappointed with ourselves for having let our dreams control us, we tend to be disappointed with God and we tend to wonder why He doesn't love us more. 

Rather then seeing the failure of a dream as a good thing because that failure releases us from the dreams captivity, we tend to be disappointeed with God and tend to question 

His faithfulness, His goodness and love,

and rather then move towards Him in our disappointment, we move away from Him."

 - Paul Tripp

https://www.paultripp.com/podcast/posts/dreams-death-disappointment-and-disaster

Dec 11, 2019

Rest is...

"Rest, therefore, is not the absence of work or failure to consider and to carry out a plan. It is work and leisure properly ordered. It is doing the right thing at the right time, realizing that our task is to hear God's call and follow His commands, and then trust that God will be God - and to be at rest even while at work."

 - Sarah Mackenzie, Teaching from Rest, 

Rest is…

A friend gave me a book recently called, Teaching from Rest, about the concept of homeschooling from a place of rest instead of worry, etc… It has been helpful mentally to process. I highly recommend it if you desire to learn more about teaching or even parenting from rest instead of anxiety.



I’ve been learning a lot about rest this year. Most years I feel God is working on a specific concept in my heart, as I am slow to let concepts sink into my brain.

“Rest, then is not the absence of work or toil. It is the absence of anxiety or frenzy.”

- Teaching from Rest –

I feel like that was a large part of our summer, learning to rest. Not necessarily sitting around and doing nothing, but not worrying about the same things we always worry about here on the mission field, or in the pastoral ministry. We left our social media behind when we left, we left any contact info, any way to get ahold of us. And we rested from worry. Most of the time. I still wondered. But it was a different kind of rest.



Resting in ministry means leaving the weight of the people and their burdens behind too, knowing God will give them what they need, through someone else perhaps, or through Himself alone. They don’t need me. I found also that ministry can be an addiction of sorts, where if I don’t have it I crave it and make more of it, because that makes me feel important.



Repenting of that and seeing that if God desires me to minister that He will provide the space. If not, then He won’t. So resting, that allowed me the chance to see that God is going to do the work, and He may use us. He may not. Either way, I want to learn to rest well.



A wise couple quoted this verse to me this year, and I have heard it repeatedly over the last few months.

Isaiah 30:15

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,

    in quietness and trust is your strength,

    but you would have none of it.”

Rather my heart would like to strive. My heart would like to feel anxiety because that’s what I’m used to. Rather, I need to rest. Rest in the finished work of Christ. Rest in the knowledge that God is doing the work. Rest instead of worry.


More resources:
Paul David Tripp's mediation on rest

https://youtu.be/3JZK53z96f4

Another great article on rest

https://www.crossway.org/articles/is-rest-just-a-dream/