I'd Like to Share This with You

I have 7 papers, a presentation, and four finals in the next 2 weeks, but in true Jenna fashion, I am putting them all off until the last minutes and writing this blog. In all honesty, what I am about to share with you is:

1. cooler
2. better
3. more interesting
4. more important

Than anything school related.

Anyways, recently, I stumbled upon a very good book online. By stumbled upon I mean when God created the universe He decided that it would be a good idea for me to read this book at this time in my life and He made sure I found it and read it.

Anyways, the book is by a woman named Cindy Beall. When I say book, I mean its really a series of long blogs. Regardless of what it is, it is incredible.

Cindy has an incredible story. Married to a youth minister for about 5 years, Cindy and her husband felt called to move from Texas to Oklahoma and serve at a church there. The day after Cindy arrived in Oklahoma, her husband came and confessed to her that he had had an addiction to porn for many years, which had lead to many extra marital affairs, and that one of the women had recently contacted to him to inform him that she was pregnant with his child.

And then, amazingly enough, God helped Cindy to forgive her husband, repair her marriage, become friends with her husband's lover, and genuinely love her husband's son.

The book covers Cindy's experience in this journey and is truly an incredible one. My favorite chapter was Chapter 8, It's Time to Forgive. I'd like to share a couple of passages from it with you:

"It would be very convenient if we all felt like forgiving people. But, that is rarely the case. We often have to make a choice to forgive, even if we don’t feel like it. And it’s wise that we do, because our feelings are often misleading. But the more we make the choice to forgive on a daily basis, the more we will begin to see our wounds healed and resentment diminish. An indication that you have healed from a wound caused by someone else is when you cease to feel resentment against your offender. My mentor says, “You know you’ve healed from the hurt that someone else’s actions have caused when you can look back on the situation and it’s just a fact.” I think that is probably the best explanation I’ve ever heard about healing."

"There are people who have caused hurt and haven’t ever asked for forgiveness. There are days when I don’t feel like forgiving. But, God never asked me to “feel” like forgiving. He just said to do it. This command is far from easy. Forgiving someone who doesn’t deserve forgiveness goes against everything my flesh wants. Why shouldn’t they have to suffer like I have? But that’s just it. They are suffering. It’s just a different type of suffering. It’s the feeling you have inside knowing that the pain that another person is experiencing is a result of your choices. How helpless is that?"

"You’ve heard it said, “The mind is a terrible thing to waste.” When we spend our time thinking and dwelling upon things that cannot be changed, we are wasting it. In another sense, we are also worrying. Matthew 6:27 says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” I think we have all wasted our time by worrying at some point in our lives. Whether it is about financial security or our children or our health, we’ve done it. And plenty of us still do it regularly. So, has it helped us? I mean, can you think back to a time when you worried and say, “Yeah, man, worrying about my children’s future totally helped my situation. I’m so glad I did it and spent those hours consumed with what ifs”? No, you don’t feel that way, and neither do I. We don’t want to worry. We want to have complete confidence in God. After all, in practical terms, worrying is our inability to trust God. Ouch. So, if you and I worry about something, we are basically not trusting God? If the shoe fits. And I think it does."

You can (and should) read the rest of Chapter 8 here.

Also, I highly recommend reading the whole book. Even if you're a boy, or even if you're life story in no way related to Cindy's, it still has some good life lessons to be learned. Plus, its a short and quick read. You can read the entire book here.

Finally, ironically enough, Cindy grew up in Georgetown, graduated from Georgetown High School, went to Texas State University, and spent some time in San Antonio. Creepy right? I think it's just further proof of how great I am going to turn out.

Enjoying Lessons in Literature,
Jenna