Let me go back in time first...
I once was engaged to a soldier in the Army. About six weeks before the wedding date I called the whole thing off.
Let me go a bit further back...
My parent's divorced when I was 2 1/2 years old. My daddy has never remarried, and maybe only dated a few times less than a handful. My mom remarried two times more after that. Her and my dad have been married about 20 something years. But the experience of living with different families, going through divorce....I never wanted my children to go through that. I never wanted to go through that.
Now I don't think people want to go through divorce. But I do believe if people took more time before they married, and create a Biblical foundation, then there would be less divorce in this world.
So, at six weeks before the big day, I called off my wedding. The signs were there, but honestly I ignored them. I still had not had a bridal shower. I would not commit to stationary for a shower. Now things were paid for: venue, cake, photographer, wedding dress...But, I called the whole thing off. And the reason I waited so long was because I feared disappointing my family. Eventually the message got through my head that they were not the ones who were going to have to live with the man, I was. And if they were upset with me calling off a wedding, that they had not helped pay for, well that would be on them.
No one was disappointed. A few were relieved. A few were even proud of me for having the gumption to do take the action that I did. His actions afterwards validated my decision that what I had done was right. He is now married, lives in Florida, and has two sons.
So a while after I called the wedding off and started getting my life on track, I ran into a friend from about a decade prior. This friend and I caught up and it was recommended to me to read the book "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge.
It transformed my life. And I am grateful for the women who encouraged the couple to write it. Originally they wrote "Wild at Heart," a book for men. And the women in the lives of these men who were transformed by reading "Wild at Heart" decided to read what their men had read. And after reading it, they pleaded for a book of their own. And "Captivating" came to be. Again, thank you!
"Set deep in the heart of every woman are three core desires. Every woman longs for romance,
to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to be the Beauty in the tale. It is for such that we were made." - from the website, www.ransomedheart.com (which is their ministry).
Ladies, if you want a book that will change your walk and your life, please get this book. Then get the study guide to go with it. I have read it twice, and plan on starting it again in a few days.
After I read it the first time, I realized something. I wanted to marry a man who had read "Wild at Heart." God placed a friend I hadn't seen in a decade into my life so that I could read this book. If He did that for me, so that I could be a better believer and follower of Him, I wanted to be paired with a man who had been transformed too. A few years later I would meet my husband, and on his bookcase was a semi-battered copy of Wild at Heart.
God provides.
So, I am a bit of a odd duck. I don't have Hollywood or Music Industry crushes. Oh yes, I like actors, singers and such, but I don't obsess over them, and have no plans to travel anywhere to see any of the people I do watch/listen to anytime soon.
But, when you go into the realm of Christianity and its authors, churches, and preachers....that is different! I want to visit Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia, this is the church that has put out the movies Fireproof and Courageous. If I met the Kendrick brothers, I would be on cloud nine. I want to go to The Cove, it is the Billy Graham Training Center, and I would love to study under his daughter Anne Graham Lotz (she is an amazing writer and speaker!). And I want to go to Colorado to visit Ransomed Heart ministries. That is the ministry of John and Stasi Eldredge.
And this October (right before my birthday) they are holding a Captivating Conference. To get a ticket is by lottery, so there is not guarantee. But next year, I will have money put aside, and I will enter that lotto for a chance to visit and study under individuals who transformed my life by a book...
But until then, I will the one book that is living, and can transform any life! The Bible. Above any other book you read, take the time to read your Scriptures. And may I make a suggestion? Use an actual Bible, not your cell phone. A Bible you can touch, you can feel, one with pages you can turn, or even mark in. To me there is always a deeper connection to scripture and to God when I actually read from my Bible instead of some app.
Good Night & God Bless!
Jessica
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