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I must admit that when I started thinking about writing about this chapter for this blog, I was at loss! \u00a0How do I mix Faith and Boys in the same blog? \u00a0These are two different topics altogether and I was praying that I would be able to do justice to each without leaning more on one topic and neglecting the other.<\/p>\n
But as I re-read the chapter over and over, I realize that one cannot talk about boys without talking about faith and neither can one find a lifelong partner without faith.<\/p>\n
Somehow I equated faith with other spiritual things and not boys or men as the case may be. \u00a0I must repent I used to be logical about this subject. \u00a0Please don\u2019t write me off yet but give ear to what I am going to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.\u201d Hebrews 11:1<\/p>\n
Hebrews chapter 11 is the Faith chapter and the \u201cHall of Fame\u201d for the great men and women of Faith. \u00a0When reading this chapter you are introduced to the greatest exploits that people like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and everyone else did. \u00a0They overcame the most difficult situations; they were tested and passed through storms that we can only read about.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
I thought faith came into play when I am faced with health issues, loss, job hunting and other major issues that I could not handle on my own. \u00a0But what about when I meet a guy I like. \u00a0Isn\u2019t it so obvious that if I am single and he is single we can get together and see how it works out? \u00a0Right? WRONG.<\/p>\n
As a Lady of Faith, I must take to God each and every decision that affects me. \u00a0I need to involve God in everything including issues of dating, marriage, etc. \u00a0Just because this nice young man is found in church and is involved in ministry doesn\u2019t mean he is the right one for me. \u00a0I need to speak to my Heavenly Father about him before I can get involved.<\/p>\n
You must be saying, \u201cBut Jackie, I have been here for so long, I have moved from my small town where \u201cthere are more livestock than people\u201d; I have even changed churches so much that I have lost count the number of times I have filled out the membership forms; this is my opportunity, this is \u201cwhere the boys are\u201d so to speak. \u00a0This is my time; at last someone who is interested in me, who gives me the attention I deserve. \u00a0I can laugh at his jokes, he says the right words to me and never for once has he commented about my weight. \u00a0He is someone that I can introduce to my friends and family without feeling embarrassed because he is well spoken and articulate\u201d.<\/p>\n
Well girlfriends, I met such a guy once and I can relate to someone who once wrote \u201cdear diary, I think I found the man I am going to marry\u201d because I practically said that myself.<\/p>\n
I returned to church after a five year hiatus and this church is where the Christian boys in town went to. \u00a0These boys were involved in ministry; be it choir, ushering, Sunday school, youth, evangelism; you name it they were there on the fore front. \u00a0Like every young woman on fire for Christ, I got involved in ministry and no sooner had I done that than I met him. \u00a0He was everything I thought a Christian guy should be. \u00a0He was involved in various ministries and then some. \u00a0He was a young man the Pastor relied upon. \u00a0Well, we dated for close to a year and the relationship grew serious to the point of getting parents involved and engagement talks were underway. \u00a0But something happened that caused the relationship to disintegrate. \u00a0Mr. \u00a0Right bowed out when I needed him the most. \u00a0Mr. Right did not sign up for what I was going through and he had prayed about the way forward and it was to end the relationship.<\/p>\n
Through this heart breaking situation the Lord opened my \u201ceyes of faith\u201d and I was able to see that I had been in this relationship for the wrong reasons. \u00a0The Lord showed me that I wanted to be part of the church so much that I thought the best way to be accepted was by marrying this guy. \u00a0The Lord knew my heart better than I knew myself. \u00a0He did this to get my attention and to show me that I was accepted by Him and that He loved me the way I was. \u00a0I needed to serve Him with the right motive. \u00a0I needed to know who I was in Him before I could get married. \u00a0I needed to fall in love with Him before I could fall in love with someone else.<\/p>\n
For three years, I embarked on a journey of getting to know the Lord and falling in love with Him as well as doing the things He wanted me to do. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t easy because when a guy came along I wanted to throw caution to the wind and let logic take charge, but the Lord always reminded me what I went through and I needed to continue to trust Him with this. \u00a0He knew the desires of my heart and in time He would fulfill them. \u00a0Well He did because when I stopped searching and trying to help the Lord, He brought a man whom I married.<\/p>\n
_____________<\/b><\/p>\n
LET\u2019S PRAY<\/strong><\/p>\n Lord, I commit my sisters into your loving arms today, be with them as they trust you with this area of Faith and boys. \u00a0I know how difficult it is to surrender this issue to you but that is the only way we can avoid heartbreak. \u00a0Lord we surrender our will to you today. \u00a0Open our eyes of faith to see what you have in store for us as we wait upon you. \u00a0You know the desires of our hearts and in time you shall fulfill them. \u00a0In Jesus Name. Amen.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n YOUR ASSIGNMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n When you meet a guy you like, what comes out first logic or faith?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Read through Hebrews 11 and underline all the verbs. Then go back through and confess, \u201cBy faith I can __________,\u201d filling in the blank with the verbs from each verse.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Is there anything you can think of that you can\u2019t do by faith?<\/p>\n ________________<\/b><\/p>\n If you would like to take part in this Online Bible Study and Facebook Discussion Group, please click on the \u201cSign-Up Here\u201d button located at the top of our website, in the Menu Bar. \u00a0Once we receive your request, we will add you to our group!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Be Blessed,<\/p>\n Jackie<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I must admit that when I started thinking about writing about this chapter for this blog, I was at loss! \u00a0How do I mix Faith and Boys in the same blog? \u00a0These are two different topics altogether and I was praying that I would be able to do justice to each without leaning more on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[144,147,283,293,365,394,425,490,12,544,545,554,593,859,1174,9297],"class_list":["post-2333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singles","tag-bible","tag-bible-study","tag-dating","tag-debby-jones","tag-faith","tag-friendship","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-hebrews-111","tag-integrity","tag-jackie-chingawale","tag-jackie-kendall","tag-jesus","tag-lady-in-waiting","tag-purity","tag-self-worth","tag-singles","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-BD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8184,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions\/8184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n