Random Collection of Comments on a Dear Friend’s Questions about “Soulmates”

I think Scripture is fairly clear that marrying among the family of believers is permissible. I wonder, sometimes, when I look back on what has happened in my life in the past year if God has a perfectly permissible will, and a perfect will.

Our decisions in the past may limit our options in the present but I also wonder, if at every point, He has devised a new perfect will for our lives that He desires to implement (if we let Him). I think He does.

We see through a mirror, dimly. But we see much more clearly along side some individuals than others. Every day is a challenge in which we try to see God a little more clearly. More importantly, every day God attempts to show Himself a little more clearly. Maybe, just maybe, He brings people into our lives to help us see Him better.

There comes a point in Christian maturity when one must realize that the only followers of Christ who will be discipled are those who want to be discipled. The Word is the chief agent of out discipling, anyway. The extent to which we want the Word is a direct prognostic indicator of the rate at which we will be discipled.

As a former bibliophile (exiled to the land of barely enough time to read Scripture, and that encroached upon by time squandered on social media), this verse has always thrilled me.  I picture the libraries of heaven, where all the good works Jesus did are recorded.  And maybe, just maybe, some of them are filed under the names of each of His children, whom He empowered and inspired to continue His good work on earth.

(Source: staypozitive, via bloggingmowdyu)

Some would call it coincidence that the verse on my mind all week was the prophetic word at the end of service. I call it a gift.

When did everyone in my family start saying “I love you”? Surreal.

i-have-learned-the-secret asked: If you could read the journal of any of the writers of the scripture, who would it be and why? I'm not saying the books of the Bible...but instead, the personal journals over the course of their life.

Luke.  I would want to know if he struggled with the time constraints of the medical profession, with the lure of academia, and the difficulty of seeing individuals as both body and soul in need of healing.

The Word

The human relationship with God’s Word is so fascinating to me.  The more we get, the more we need.  Commitment to study, in this most unique context, breeds desire.  And we somersault forward, needing and wanting and loving more with every minute of exposure we allow ourselves.  Living. Active. Sharp. Dividing. And protecting our hearts from ourselves. 

Girls and their Vows

There is a passage in Numbers 30 that addresses the feminine tendency to promise more than is reasonable to deliver. Interestingly, God’s provision for single women living at home and married women allows for their vows (commitments) to be released by their fathers or husbands.

Widows and divorced women have no such provision. In this day, however, there are many women who live neither in father’s nor husband’s household (I am one of them).

God never said it is not good for woman to be alone, but He never had to say so; it is implied by the order of creation. And as a woman who has vowed countless times things impossible to deliver (classic case of mouth bigger than brawn), I have to wonder: who stands in the gap for us, the women without anyone to undo our hasty and burdensome commitments?

Is this the price we pay for our so fiercefully defended independence?