Passion and Purity

"Discipleship usually Brings us into the necessity of choice between duty and desire. They are not always mutually exclusive, however. When our hearts are set on obedience, we can be sure of the needed wisdom to tell the difference between a conflict and a harmony. It may be a slow and painful process."

-Elisabeth Elliot "Passion and Purity"

So, as you can see, I picked up another book and once again I found the right book at the right time!! Elisabeth Elliot has the wisdom and experience that every young Godly woman needs to hear during this critical time of her life.

The reason that I could not put this book down was because as Elisabeth recalled her experiences as a young single woman, I could relate every ounce of my thought life and spiritual struggles to the ones that she described having as a senior in college. This time of searching and figuring things out is so critical in a womans life. I know this because I am a young woman attempting to live according to Gods will in a world where desire is anything but waiting for what the Lord can bring to us. The most common desire of a woman in this world is to be loved unconditionally; meaning that she will go to any length to manipulate this "love" into being what she had always imagined it to be ( Notice I said "in this world"). A woman under God's provision knows that her father loves her unconditionally and that her desire is only to please him and to rest in his grace. The hard part of this picture is knowing where our earthly desires end and our heavenly desires take over.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart"
- psalm 37:4

This psalm is a comfort to many of us, but I am afraid that we have taken it to mean that when we trust in the Lord we get everything WE want. I know I have taken it that way in the past, and that has actually been my struggle and my prayer for months upon months. Endless times I have asked the Lord to reveal HIS desires, HIS will, HIS direction, and all he had to show me were these words:

" Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of the things will be given to you as well."
- Matthew 6:33

" Whom have I in heaven thee? and there is none on earth that I desire beside thee."
- psalm 73:25

" The Lord said to Aaron, " You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the israelites.""
- Numbers 18:20

So back to Elisabeth's qoute: "...It may be a slow and painful process." I know that the process of discerning God's will from my own desires may be a hard road, but I also know that as of today my only desire is to live in obedience to the one who gave his son so that I may live in his kingdom. Because of that, I am confident that he will show me HIS will, HIS direction, and HIS desires.

Pearls

Those of you who know me know that I love pearls. It's not the price I love, but the gentle classy touch that a pearl can add to a simple ordinary look. It wasn't until recently that I realized the symbolism that a simple strand of pearls had to my life. For those of you who do not know, a pearl is made when a piece of sand or something of that nature is lodged into an oyster causing an irritation within the shell. The oyster then forms somewhat of a shell around this irritation thus resulting in a beautiful pearl.

My sin is very symbolic to the sand within this oyster shell. For the longest time, I allowed my sin to remain with the other thousands of grains of sand in this world. I was comfortable on the beach and on the ocean floor where I fit in with so many other grains of sand. I was completely unaware of what God could make of my life if I allowed him to take this sin, but all along I could see him;I knew his shell was not far from me. The moment I finally allowed him to transform my sin a beautiful jewel was created, handcrafted by the creator of the universe.

I still have so many irritations in my life that do not reflect the love that Christ has shed on me, but out of his grace he pulls me in and makes pearl after pearl out of my ugly sin. My prayer is that he continues to strand my pearls, and that one day I will wear a necklace displaying the fruit that he has produced out of my life.

I am so excited that he has given me this time to be his and to really learn how I can use my gifts to serve him. I know that through this time I have in waiting for the Lord to reveal his calling for my life I am going to grow into the woman that will one day bring glory to his name. Then I can proudly wear the necklace that has been so carefully crafted by the one true love of my life...Jesus Christ.