<\/p>\n
Conviction, strong in my faith, unrealistic, all different ways to describe comments I have gotten based on decisions I have made in my dating life.\u00a0\u00a0 As I read the letter that Cindy writes in the beginning of our chapter a few different emotions went through me.\u00a0 Admittedly, one was cynicism.\u00a0 (\u201cOh sure, it\u2019s easy to write a letter like that on the day before your wedding Little Miss Perfect!\u201d), another was kinship (I totally understand the want for a godly man and others thinking I am too \u201cpicky\u201d), and yet another was hope (Well she found someone who satisfied her wants, maybe there is hope for me too.).\u00a0 Sometimes I feel like there are so many mountains to climb between single motherhood and my Christianity that no man is going to want to make the effort.\u00a0 Yes, there are times when my conviction wavers because I am lonely or I am feeling time ticking by too quickly, but there hasn\u2019t been a time when those feelings were strong enough to compromise my beliefs.<\/p>\n
Is this an easy way for us Jesus girls to live in today\u2019s society?\u00a0 Absolutely not.\u00a0 But the rewards are what is worth it.\u00a0 One thing I highly suggest for those of you who aren\u2019t already doing it, it spending time with our Lord, especially when feeling lonely.\u00a0 Now by spending time with the Lord I don\u2019t mean (just) reading a devotional or your bible, but REALLY spending time with Him in what I call Listening Prayer.\u00a0 Be still.\u00a0 Don\u2019t talk.\u00a0 Ask Him to speak to you.\u00a0 Focus your mind on him with worship music or repeating a phrase.\u00a0 (When I have trouble focusing my mind I repeat the phrase \u201cBring it back to Jesus\u201d as many times as I need to!)\u00a0 And girls, I promise, He will show up!\u00a0 My most fulfilling times prayer times are when I am in listening prayer.<\/p>\n
It is during a time like this He gave me the hope I needed for when I am hanging onto my convictions by a thread.\u00a0 I was asking Him about my singleness.\u00a0 I clearly \u201cheard\u201d Him say to me: \u201cIt is going to be amazing\u201d.\u00a0 Oh I questioned it, whether it was really Him, if I was planting the thoughts, and on and on and on.\u00a0 Without making this story too long, He did confirm things for me, assuring me that yes, it was Him.\u00a0 This is what helps me be strong like Ruth was.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t settle.\u00a0 She held out for God\u2019s best too.\u00a0 I love when the author says she got her Boaz instead of a Bozo! \ud83d\ude42 We deserve better than a bozo too!<\/p>\n
Ruth also gives those of us with a past we may not be proud of some hope.\u00a0 She could have just fell into the cycle of her family\u2019s sins.\u00a0 Following in the ways of the world at that time (which isn\u2019t much different than what we see today) would have been easy for her.\u00a0 She could have went back to her family and lived her life the way everyone else was.\u00a0 But Ruth wanted more.\u00a0 She made the choice to break the cycle of generational sin and start a new cycle of godly living.<\/p>\n
This is something I struggle with a lot.\u00a0 I lost my virginity through a sexual assault, which sent me into a spiral of poor decisions.\u00a0 I look back sometimes and I just wish that I had known Jesus back then.\u00a0 I like to think that I would have handled things differently, although I know there is no guarantee of that.\u00a0 I see the things I did, the fact that I am not pure, the fact that I have a child out of wedlock, and I wonder how any godly man would want to come anywhere near me.\u00a0 What I continually try to remind myself is that the man God has for me will see me for the woman I am now.\u00a0 The way I am living now.\u00a0 He will give me the grace needed to see through my past and into our future.\u00a0 That is the man God has for me, and for you too.<\/p>\n
How do we stay strong in all these choices we are called to make?\u00a0 By knowing, and standing by, the convictions given to us in His word, even in the difficult times.\u00a0\u00a0 I leave you today with Deuteronomy 30:15 \u2013 20:<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0Look at what I\u2019ve done for you today: I\u2019ve placed in front of you: Life and Good, Death and Evil.<\/i><\/p>\n
And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.<\/i><\/p>\n
But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won\u2019t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.<\/i><\/p>\n
I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
LET\u2019S PRAY<\/strong><\/p>\n
Lord God our Father, thank you for letting us know your wishes for our lives.\u00a0 So clearly in Your Word we are given your expectations and desires for us.\u00a0 Thank you also for the gift of free will.\u00a0 Although through this gift we stumble in the flesh, you are always there with grace, love and forgiveness.\u00a0 We strive to live in your will for us, live strong in our convictions, and I ask that you supply each and every woman reading this with the strength to live this out.\u00a0 In Your Name I pray.\u00a0 Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n
YOUR ASSIGNMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n
What are your convictions when it comes to dating?\u00a0 Why did you choose these criteria?<\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
For the \u201cLady in Waiting\u201d Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website by clicking the \u201csign-up here\u201d button at the top of our webpage; which is also where you can sign up to participate in this awesome bible study!<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Conviction, strong in my faith, unrealistic, all different ways to describe comments I have gotten based on decisions I have made in my dating life.\u00a0\u00a0 As I read the letter that Cindy writes in the beginning of our chapter a few different emotions went through me.\u00a0 Admittedly, one was cynicism.\u00a0 (\u201cOh sure, it\u2019s easy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"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":[144,146,147,218,293,425,436,545,593,686,723,9297,968],"class_list":["post-4462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singles","tag-bible","tag-bible-studies","tag-bible-study","tag-christianity","tag-debby-jones","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god","tag-jackie-kendall","tag-lady-in-waiting","tag-michelle-graziano","tag-online-bible-studies","tag-singles","tag-singles-bible-study","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-19Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4462","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\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8369,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4462\/revisions\/8369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}