GREEN-LIGHT revolution

But it's still Monday!!! In fact, I've got 12 minutes before the clock strikes midnight in St. Louis! Until my next post, here are some of my own six-word-stories of my experiences with God (being Love) that I've been twittering about this month:

• one. exactly what Love's all about.
• silent night.. Love's pure light.. radiant..
• Love provided forgiveness; forgiveness provides love.
• only Love makes the impossible possible.
• Love's words? always captivating, never cliché.
• life only gets better with Love.
• every time.. Love continues to rule.
• i cross my heart and... Love.
• wanna know a secret? ask Love.
• only Love is patient without delay.
• Love is my great adventure. Hundredfold.
• Love? ...absolute. audacious. admirable. astounding. accepting.
• i somehow find that Love&i collide.
• it's a Love story... say yes.
• Got Love? ...does a body good.
• Love is a battlefield? try Hero.
• Love is a many splendored being.
• to Love, or not to Love?
• who told you Love is blind?
• fall in love? Love's not fallen.

Home for Christmas My name is Abi, I'm 22 and living in St. Joseph, Missouri...I'm from England! When people ask me where I'm from I tend to respond in the most tangled way: "Well....I grew up in this one place, and then my parents moved to this other place when I moved away for college and well, now I'm in the middle of America - so I guess I'm kind of from here now."

A few weeks ago I began thinking about 'home' more than usual. There are various triggers, but this time it was due to a trend I noticed in Christmas songs... 'Drivin' home for Christmas', 'Please come home for Christmas'...'I'll be home for Christmas'. I thought: "Well, I'm not going home for Christmas! OK?!" The first step is admitting. Haha. So for the first time in 22 years, I'm not going home for Christmas.

I wanted to look at what 'home' actually is to people - what is its definition? (I was considering this in the shower - the place where I think too much, but also enjoy a strange kind of clarity!) To some home is a place of rest, security and belonging, to others it's just where you keep your stuff. I guess it's the difference between: 'home is where the heart is' and 'home is where you hang your hat'! One of the conclusions that I came to, (around the time of shampoo application) was that home is about boundaries; the ones that are set for us and the ones we set for ourselves.

When I found out I was headed for St. Joe for FYT last year…it wasn’t quite what I had in mind…I had never even heard of Missouri. I admit, I panicked and prayed 'God this is crazy, I'm not going there unless you give me the big thumbs up!' That night I got the thumbs up pretty straight and fast in Psalm 16:

'Lord you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant placesSurely I have a delightful inheritance.' v5-6 I

went to bed with the biggest smile because in giving God the reigns I knew that He was taking me on an adventure. I had no idea what to expect. A year an a half later and I'm making St. Joseph my home...for now :-). I never imagined that I would be sitting in an apartment in America at Christmas, writing a blog and wearing crazy-festive PJ 'pants' (for a giggle...we call them PJ bottoms). God has certainly been redefining home for me and showing me the 'more' that He has.

I want to encourage you to ask God what He wants to say to you about 'home'. I pray that He would let you loose in your hometowns this Christmas and also in the nations!! Let God redefine home for you and set your boundaries, because I think when you do this, you will find that His far exceed your own. I don't think this will mean moving to Mongolia for everyone ;-) It might just involve stepping over the fence!

Whatever it means, we know that our security is in God and our rest is with Him. On this earth we are just passing through - our home is in heaven worshipping Him! Let God guide your steps - He has an amazing inheritance for you!!

Merry Christmas!
Going a festive shade of green...
Abi

Hi ladies! I don’t know how many of you are enduring finals week, but I know that if you’re like me it can be a really crazy week! So here is some encouragement to help get us through the rest of the week, and into glorious Christmas break!

• “With your help I can advance against a troop, with my God I can scale a wall.” – Psalm 18: 29
With our God we can scale a wall! Finals will not control us!

Ok moving on…..

This past weekend I went to a wedding; it was absolutely beautiful. There was snowy white decorations, and whimsical music. But one thing that the pastor said during the service stuck with me most of all. He was talking about Adam and Eve, and how when God made Eve He kept Adam sleeping until He brought Eve to him. I thought that was such good wisdom and encouragement for us! Our prayer should be that God keeps are future men asleep, until He brings us to them. That’s another key thing; God is the one that brings us to them. We should not have to search, or plan. In perfect timing God will bring us to our Adam, just like he did with so many of our Bedouin heroines of the Bible. God brought Eve to Adam, Ruth to Boaz, Rebekah to Isaac, and Rachel to Jacob.

Well that’s all for now. I can’t wait to see all you beautiful women at Mobilise!

Going Green!
Miss

I bet I've got ya' interested already, eh?! Well, enjoy this little story:

So I was serving tables the other day (like I do most days), when down sat a party of old ladies. I patiently started taking drink orders amidst the hearing aids and obscure questions, and by the time I made my way around the table, the woman in the final seat asked me for an iced tea. Not unusual.

At this point I gave her the tea choices (as we have more than one tea), but all of a sudden to my surprise, there came an unexpected & witty reply: "Oh honey, give me the Tropical Passion Iced Tea (the house tea)... because at my age, I could use a little passion!"

HAH! Go ahead & laugh a little bit! Ok, now that you've got your giggles out, let us continue...

I smiled with a twinkle in my eye and before I could make reply, she immediately continued: "Now, I know that's hard for you to imagine at your age sweetie... but believe me, when you get to where I'm at (85 or so), you need every bit of passion you can get... and this tea is just what I need today!" I smiled, and responded somehow (I forget)... but here's what I thought as I walked away:

"Nope, not hard for me to imagine. Trust me. I've lived for long periods of time without it (passion in my soul that is), and I'm just a wee whipper-snapper of 25." Perhaps, just perhaps... our definitions of passion are different.

My life experience thus far has told me that passion clearly has NOTHING to do with age, or physical fitness, or intimate relationships with the opposite sex, or the amount of $$ I have, or where I live, or what my hobbies are. Nope. It is true for me to say that, in my own life, these things can, and do indeed, stir my passion, but they WILL NEVER, EVER provide the SOURCE for the eternal passion in my soul.

By God's lavish grace, I have learned this much by the ripe-old-age of 25: that passion in my life has EVERYTHING to do rather, with Jesus Christ and His robust love for me--His resulting death on the cross (John 19:16-30) and His miraculous resurrection from the dead (see John 20 & 21). If my passion in life isn't rooted in what Christ has done for me on the cross, it is eternally destined to fail... and I've found it usually does so sooner than later.

Because of Jesus love in my life, I ask, hope and anticipate to have such a passion as great as His (John 15:12-15). And as a matter of fact, while I grow in knowing Christ throughout my time here on earth, I only expect my passion for living to INCREASE. Ask me how I'm doing when I'm 85.

Until then... going green!
blogger bek

"Circumstances, difficult. God's goodness, never more apparent."

For the past two months I've found myself walking in the midst of trying circumstances, and this statement rings all-too-painfully-true in this here heart of mine.

Glancing down the path ahead of me from the very beginning, this was not a trail I found myself wanting to take with the Lord; yet I knew it was one He was asking me to walk alongside Him on. I felt a familiar inkling in my Spirit that the Father was wanting to both lead and love me down this path... and love me well He has indeed!

In the events that transpired this fall, the Lord graciously revealed past shrapnel splintered and buried in the deep crevices of my tender heart--places where Satan's lies were desperately trying to hold on with all their might. I've come to find in my own life, that oftentimes (for me personally) the Lord takes a "hands on" approach when it comes to removing these splinters.

It's in obedience to His leading me through difficult experiences that I find a truer and deeper intimacy with Him. And although the removing of these shards has been, and is always painful, the truth and love that God replaces their vacancy with, eternally out-weighs the cost of my suffering their removal. EVERY time. I praise Him for the grace He gives me to remain obedient to Him when ALL my flesh feels like running in the opposite direction.

The victory I find in perseverance only serves to strengthen my faith in Him and my trust in His GOODNESS. And with each and every victory the Lord gives me, may He grow the battle cry of this Warrior Princess stronger and stronger:

"Blessed be the Lord, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle; My loving-kindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer, My shield and He in whom I take refuge" --psalm 144 (NASB)

Going Green!
Rebekah Kruvand (aka BexEna, Warrior Princess)

I love Fall weather. I am sort of sad that Chicago is finally transitioning into winter…it snowed yesterday and some of it even stayed on the ground! While others would be excited about this changing season, sadly, sometimes I get grumpy. After all, it is had to go for walks along beautiful Lake Michigan if it is so cold you must bundle all extremities for fear of them fall off!

But then again, I can be quite dramatic:-) Yesterday, in the midst of the falling snow I met with a friend for dinner. Because our fingers were so numb, we ended up going to this little coffee shop to warm up. We got hot milk steamers with caramel and warm chocolate cake to split. It was so cozy and nice to get out of the cold and simply enjoy friends and have an excuse for a hot drink.

So in the end…I guess winter is not so bad. In fact, I hope to always through off the glum and celebrate every season of life and recognize the blessings interwoven in that particular stage of being. And I guess that is true for more than the weather…I’m just saying:-)

Happy first snow fall from Chicago!

Going green!
Cath

Confession….as I stated on my Monday post, I was recently convicted after reading the book of James where it says, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed,” (James 5:16, NIV). God has blessed me with a Bible study made up of an amazing group of women who are vulnerable, honest, encouraging, and challenging. One aspect of our small group that I cherish is the honesty that exists there. When areas of our life, sinful, selfish, rebellious areas of our life stay in the dark, then that murky, entangling, heavy laden sin soon becomes all encompassing and we forget how to turn to Jesus…at least that is what happens in my life.

So how do we break that cycle, how do we turn to Jesus, confess the sin, bring it to light and be healed? Confession.

We confess to Jesus and we confess to one another. We invite accountability into the mix. We invite community to be a part of the healing. We line up beside our sisters to keep them from falling back into sin.

But if we want honesty in a group of friends, we must first, ourselves be honest. I must be honest.

I have confessed this sin before, but I hide behind previous confessions. I mean if I repented once, then the problem is taken care of…I will never sin in that area of my life again…I will never stumble ever again …..For one thing, yes, Christ takes care of our sin once and for all…however, I am not perfect and I should never claim to be…this life is all about daily bringing my faults to Christ and repenting, healing, growing, and moving in a new direction.

So once again I confess my sin. I choose not to be ashamed that I have fallen into the same pattern of sin, I choose not to stay in the dark and watch the separation between Christ and I grow, I choose not to hide, I choose not to be silent, but confess and bring my sins to the light and humbly repent and ask for healing.

My sin….masturbation. Not a sin that lots of women like to talk about, but lots of women struggle with. But I mean…that’s a guy sin, that is gross, mature Christian sisters don’t struggle with that…want to bet? The stigma against females and masturbation is what keeps this sin in the dark and what keeps women from confession and what keeps women from healing and growing in faith. So right now I want to break the lies, claim this struggle, confess, and repent. I never thought I would confess this particular sin in such a public venue, but I really feel like that’s what God wants me to do. Even if this gets read by one reader…I pray that God would use that.

I choose not to be broken, but to confess, be healed, and grow in faith.

Going green!
Cath

Hey chicas, it’s about that time again for another installment of ramblings from this here contributor. Again, my name is Cathy, I currently live in Chicago, I’m 25 years old…and this week I really want to talk about confession. Why? Because recently my Bible study was going through the Book of James and was convicted by the verse, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (NIV James 5:16)

But before I get to confession I wanted to praise Jesus…why, because I love Jesus and also feel convicted that my first instinct and reaction to all circumstances should be praise. Our God is good. He is always good! As Paul write to the church in Philippi, “rejoice in the Lord always! And again I say REJOICE!” (NIV Philippians 4:4)

Therefore, from my heart of hearts I pray: Thanks you Jesus! Thank you for this day that you give me. Thank you that you are sovereign. Thank you that you are working all things out for your good. Thank you that you are all-knowing and I don’t have to be. I praise you Lord that you are good and have mercy and grace even for me. I praise you because you are worth of praise. And of honor. And of shouts of thanksgiving. You are the Lord of lords and the King of kings and I praise you because of who you are! AMEN!

Have a great day ladies…and I pray that in whatever circumstance you find yourself in you can still praise Him who is worthy of all our praises.

Going green!
Cath

Oh my…two months have passed since my last post?! Time is flying! Thanksgiving is this week, and soon it will be Christmas. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to say Thank You to all the single ladies, and also guest writers, for your words of encouragement, inspiration, wisdom, and truth. Thank you, Amie and Martha, for getting this wonderful Revolution off the ground! It is a joy to know all of you ladies and to read your posts. For those of you I haven’t met, I look forward to meeting you, one day!

For this post, I just want to share a Praise: I am feeling so much better. My last post, though optimistic (I think?) was heavily influenced by the way I was feeling…poopy (I’m running with the letter ‘p’ right now). I had been sick and wasn’t sleeping well, and I said so in my post. Soon after posting that particular blog, “WOE IS ME!” became my attitude and outlook as I stayed sick and maintained a horrible attitude. I had many wonderful ladies (and a few gentlemen) praying for me. Thank you very much! And thank God, I am no longer in that funk. He is teaching me things from my “suffering” (I hesitate to classify my problems as suffering) that will stick with me for life….If only I will remember! Our God is so faithful!

Resist him [Satan, our adversary], firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. – 1 Peter 5:9, ESV

As long as I’m using words that begin with the letter ‘p’…I have been reminded, in a big way, that I am Precious. I am Prized. You are, too! For now, I’d like to leave you with verses that I’ve found encouraging in the past weeks. I’m working out a post for Wednesday, so don’t go too far!!

Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. – Luke 12:7, ESV

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:6-7, ESV
(How comforting – a man big enough to handle alllllll of our lady-problems!)

...in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. – Psalm 57:1, ESV

and

…for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. – Psalm 63:7, ESV

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. – Psalm 40:2-3, ESV

Until Wednesday...

Going Green!

-Andrea

Hey gals, for my last post this week before I turn it over to the lovely Andrea Boll, I am honored to introduce to you a guest blogger who is an incredibly amazing woman of God that I admire so much and who I am so blessed to share life with..my older sister, Shannon Hein!--Martha
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"There is no thief like a bad movie". When I first heard that quote, I thought, "So true! I loath getting to the end of the movie and thinking 'What a total waste! I can never get those two hours of my life back now and I can think of a dozen things I'd rather have done.'"

Of course, there are other things that are a thief of time - an unsuccessful shopping trip, for instance. If I can’t find what I want/need I’m more bothered by the wasted time than not getting what I’d hoped to find.

Then, there's facebook. I love getting updates on my friends and seeing how things are going . . . but, you know . . . enough said.

Wasted time. It annoys me to no end! Which is why I'm so grateful for a lesson Jesus taught me when I was in jr. high. Every girl in our class had a crush on this one guy. He had a crush on my best friend, and oh! the agony of the love triangle! When I "fell out of love with him" after, like, a month, I wondered what was the point of that whole thing. Was I really supposed to do that whole "have-a-crush-on-a-guy-and-see-if-I-can-catch-his-eye-and-oh-crap-he-likes-someone-else-I'm-devastated" thing over and over again through my teenage years?

I felt God say very clearly, "No, you don't." Rather than this being a chastisement from Him, it was an invitation to avoid wasting time. That's not to say that relationships are a waste of time necessarily, but rather the time spent daydreaming, pining, and being discontent was; I could never get it back. I’m so grateful to Him for pointing that out because He then began to train me to capture “rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5, NLT). Often they weren’t even thoughts of a specific guy, just general thoughts of being discontented with where I was in life. He showed me how much time I can quickly waste by entertaining such thoughts, how those thoughts wiggled their way into my mood and then firmly grounded themselves in my outlook on life in general. Rather than setting my “sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand” I was being trapped in the moment, and therefore wasting that moment (Col. 3:1, NLT).

Due to His help, I can look back at my years of being a single gal and say, “Ah, I loved that time in my life; it wasn’t wasted.”

Now if I could just pick better movies . . .

Going green!
Shannon

"...It's for you that I pray with hope for a brighter day ,and so I say, your deliverance is coming.."
If you read on a few verses in Hosea, it then says "Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her to the desert and speak tenderly to her" (v14). I am so thankful that God has been so relentless in pursuing me despite me pursuing other things. Yet when He has my attention again, He doesn't let me have it or show me how I messed up; instead, He speaks tenderly. In that tenderness, new strength and hope has risen up in me. I can honestly say that the more I learn this and grow in this truth, my outlook on life and future is less based on fear and "what-ifs" but more in the assurance that I am loved so, so well.


"..a crown of thorns was placed to erase, each tear that's touched your face, And his palms and sides were pierced with spears, He hung in love just to draw you near.. My girl, out of this whole world, can't you see this is where we started?"
It all comes back to the cross. When I think about the cross, I cannot deny the love of God towards me. In viewing the cross, everything else begins to pale in comparison. I see that they don't promise me love, yet the cross is perfect proof of it. As women, we want to know all things will be made right; the cross promises that will be the case. In Revelation 21: 4-5 (NIV), it says; "HE will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or dying or crying or pain..He who was seated on the throne said, " I am making everything new!'" Our God is so so loving towards us; He treasures the woman's heart, and knows exactly how to love us, despite any claims from the world that they know what will make us happy. When I stop to think about it, I'm amazed at just how WELL Jesus knows how to love me--what to say and do to woo me. It's because He was there when it all started. God made us and knows us, and He showed just how deeply He loves us by the Cross.

Going green!
Martha

So why is it that this song resonates with me? Being an Resident Assistant at my university for the last year and a half, I've just seen countless girls who, every time I hear this song. still come to mind. I think it captures the essence of how every woman starts--a precious, little girl--and also sadly, portrays how so many things try to attack femininity. We all as women can relate to the countless things that want to demand our attention--and some are very, very detrimental. I could talk for forever on that subject, so to spare you that, I think I'm going to just highlight some lines that stick out to me.

"..Longing for a father to call her daughter...my girl, I know this love that you're chasing"

I don't know about you, but I've chased things that I thought would bring me love that has let me down countless times. Instead of finding my satisfaction in Christ, I would look to other things, like guys. What comes in place is a striving to meet these standards, trying to be good enough, trying to give my love, and ending up feeling empty. Jeremiah 2:25 (NIV) says: 'Do not run until your feet are bare, and your throat is dry. But you said, 'It's no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them'". God's basically saying we will wear ourselves out with chasing after anything but Him, yet we do anyways. When we're faced with standards to meet and feel we must give ourselves to anything other than God, striving sets in.

"..Still she knows there's more.I know she knows there's more because there is a voice she can't ignore.."
I think at some point, all of us girls have felt exhausted in trying to meet standards either set by ourselves or what the world expects of us. I think at some level, we've all thought that this wasn't what we were meant for. I'm reminded of Hosea 2:6-7 (NIV): Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after lovers but not catch them;" Our God is jealous for us, and He will not give us up, even if we get frustrated!

***To be continued...***

Going green!
Martha

Hello again, Martha here! I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but it is a cold,wet, and dreary Monday here...the kind of day that makes you just want to curl up with a good book or music and a cup of hot chocolate! My day unfortunately doesn't allow all that, but I have been listening to one of my favorite artists, Mat Kearney, this afternoon as I do my work. He has an older song that's always resonated with me, it's called "Girl America". I'm going to share the lyrics and song with you, and will be back soon to explain why I like this song so much. Until then, hope you stay dry and warm!

Going Green!
Martha

"Girl America" (youtube video)

"Girl America" Mat Kearney

My girl America is just a youth in this world
Her smile is more precious than the sparkle of pearls
And though her age reads she's just a young girl
The age behind her eyes show the pain that she's swirled
Through the hand that's been dealt though it's quiet as kept
The weight that she felt last night when she slept
And as she crept into the dreams of the things of her past
Seems to have grown so fast, way beyond her own class
Though they're right there with her, her brothers and her sisters
A natural born leader even when her peers dis her
My girl, she's at a crossroads, people praying for her
Some are preying on her magazine ads, sex, drama
Smoking marijuana, longer for a father to call her, 'daughter'
She's part of a generation longing for reconciliation
And this future that they're facing and this poison that they're tasting
My girl, I know this love you're chasing

[chorus]
My girl America's crying when she's lying on her bed at night
I can see that she's screaming when she's dreaming for her freedom
My girl America's dying while she's trying just to stop this fight
Don't stop believing, my girl America

Boys with hungry eyes have been beating her door
Telling her that's what she's for, trying to rob at her core
Then leave calling her a whore, but still she knows there's more
I know she knows there's more because there is a voice she can't ignore
'Cause it was founded in the foundations, from the day of her creation
In God we trust engraved on the treasures of her nation
And the void that the boys can't fill
With the tipping of the bottle or the popping of the pill
But still most of her friends don't care as they glare
Ready to drown down the funnel as they frown down the tunnel
They stumble and they tumble breaking down into rubble
My girl America, stop can't you see
It's not the circumstances that determine who you're gonna be
But how you deal with these problems and pains that come your way
It's for you that I pray with hope for a brighter day
And so I say, your deliverance is coming

[chorus]

Faith like a child from your first birth
You left it in the dirt on your worst hurt
And I see each tear and every scar
The hands that have held you where you are
And I can see we've strayed so far
A king born under that morning star
As a crown of thorns was placed to earase
Each tear that's touched your face
And his palms and sides were pierced with spears
He hung in love just to draw you near
My girl, out of this whole world
Can't you see this is where we started?

Surprise! Amie here. I'm back with another guest blogger! This lady friend is someone I get the privilege of spending almost everyday with. Today she offered to write for us, and now I have the honor of presenting to you a part of her life that's deeply impacted my own...

Hi, ladies! My name is Lynn, and this week, I'm writing about tools for surviving (and thriving) as a single woman. On Monday and Tuesday, I wrote about the meaning and importance of submission and specifically about how to practice it while we are single. Today, I'd like to take a look at the next item in our survival handbag, the flashlight, which has the important function of guarding and revealing our hearts.

I like to picture the heart as a tower with guards posted at each entrance. Believers are instructed to take every thought captive, so like a soldier on duty, I imagine pointing my flashlight at the thoughts seeking entrance to my heart and saying, "Halt! Identify yourself! Who do you work for and what do you hope to accomplish here?" Some of the thoughts trying to sneak into my heart were sent by the enemy and were meant for my destruction. I need to expose their source, but that can be difficult to do. How do we sort out which thoughts are ours, which are God speaking to us, and which are traps planted by the enemy? Thankfully, we have a fellow soldier with specialized training in this area. Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit as a guard for our hearts. We can ask for his help as we try to discern what we should or shouldn’t allow to dwell there.

The second function of our handy-dandy flashlight is revealing our hearts. One of the ways God reveals my heart to me is by asking questions that cause me to evaluate my feelings and motives. One day while I was puttering around at home, I heard the Lord ask me, "Do you see marriage as the ultimate form of acceptance?" That question stopped me in my tracks. I had to think about it for a while. I re-examined the way I'd been thinking about guys and the way I handled my feelings for them. I thought about why marriage appealed to me. Eventually, I had to answer that I did see marriage as the ultimate form of acceptance. The Lord replied, "Salvation, not marriage, is the ultimate form of acceptance.” The connection between my desire for acceptance and my desire for marriage was one that I had not seen. It was something God had to reveal to me about myself, which he did with grace and gentleness.

Friends, I am eager for us to use the tools God has given us to bless and honor him now and in whatever situation he sees fit to place us. In every stage of life, we have an enemy on the loose, against whom me must be on guard, and in every stage of life, we need someone to search our hearts and reveal what's hidden there. Let's learn now to recognize the enemy and avoid his traps. Let's ask God to reveal and refine our hearts.

And tomorrow, let's take a look at the last item in our survival handbag, the sword. Thanks for staying with me so far, ladies!

Going green!

Lynn Fleshman

(Click here to read Part 1 of this series.)

So, why was Paul so adamant about women covering their heads?

The veil is an interesting article of clothing in the Bible. It was an essential item in a woman’s
wardrobe, but not only for practical purposes like keeping warm or covering up bad hair days. It was a symbol of submission. When a woman put a veil on her head, she was demonstrating that she saw herself as under the covering of someone else’s authority. When Rebekah sees Isaac coming toward her in Genesis 24, she quickly covers herself with a veil as a sign that she is willing to accept his offer to be her covering.

In the early church, some women were abandoning head coverings and the ideas that they symbolized. Paul wrote strongly to the Corinthian church leaders on this issue, saying that it was shameful for women to pray or prophesy publicly without a head covering. In his letter, Paul lays out guidelines for church meetings. He makes it clear that participation requires women to acknowledge the headship of men and men to acknowledge the headship of Christ. This is the appropriate response when we understand that Jesus acknowledged the headship of his Father when he obediently went to the Cross—and THAT was the kicker for me.

When I realized that Jesus was submitted, it was no longer a role that I could despise. I began to see it as a privilege and an honor. As my heart softened on this issue, I also began to understand that God was not insulting me by giving me leaders. The fact that God charges men with the important task of leading, caring for, and protecting women is not an insult to women—it honors us. I also began to see submission more as a response to God than as a response to men. When I submit to human leaders (who are imperfect), I am actually responding to God, whom I trust to take care of me if my human leaders fail. In this way, submitting is a bold act of faith.

Understanding this made me eager to practice it. But as a single woman living hours away from her parents, I wondered to whom I could submit. I prayed and felt that God told me to look for mothers and fathers in the church. There were three practical actions I took as a response to this:

1. I vocalized my commitment to CCOJ to my elders.
2. I asked an older woman to mentor me.
3. I asked a married couple to help me navigate romantic relationships.

Now, here is my question for you, ladies: do you know who your leaders are, and do they know they are leading you? If your answer is no, then I would encourage you to have a conversation with your church elders about what commitment to your church and their leadership looks like. When you can answer yes to this question, you are putting the veil of submission to use as you journey through the single life.

Up next: we'll examine the second item in our survival handbag, the flashlight, and its dual purpose of revealing and guarding our hearts.

Going green!

Lynn Fleshman

Have you ever played The Survival Game? Someone comes up with a dangerous scenario in which survival seems impossible, and you have three random items you must use to get out alive. For example, "You're on a plane that crashes in the Alps, and you are the only survivor. There was a terrible fire and everything on board burned except a toothbrush, a paperclip, and a package of Swedish Fish. How will you survive?"

I'm not very good at this game. My survival skills amount to using a cell phone and belonging to an auto club. I have, however, navigated the dangerous landscape of singleness, which can feel as lonesome as a desert island and as treacherous as a steep mountain range. In fact, singleness may be the ultimate survival game.

So here is your scenario, ladies: you are a single girl with a strong desire for marriage, who is part of an international family of churches full of eligible bachelors. You have three items in your gorgeous handbag: a veil, a flashlight, and a sword. How will you survive? This week, we will examine these three items and learn how they can help us not only survive, but thrive, as single women. Plus, if we learn to use these tools now, they will come in handy should God place us in another survival scenario, marriage.

The first tool in our handbag is the veil of submission—one that I was happy to leave at the bottom of my bag for a long time. Growing up in the grrrl power era of the 90s, everything from cereal boxes to school supplies spouted some kind of female empowerment message. Without being aware of it, I accepted the idea that equality and submission could not co-exist. When I came across passages in the Bible about wives submitting to husbands and women being silent, I felt like I had been given a second-class status in God’s family. Is there something horribly, inherently wrong with me as a girl? I wondered. I had loads of sinful attitudes, but all of them were also common to men. Why couldn't I be in charge? I was submitted to Jesus, the perfect man, so why would I need (or want) to submit to an imperfect one?

With all of these thoughts swimming around my brain, I finally decided to search this thing out in Scripture. That’s when I came across 1 Corinthians 11, where the Apostle Paul goes on and on about a particular item of clothing—the head covering. Seriously, Paul? I thought. I keep a few scarves on hand for bad hair days, but I had no idea I wasn't allowed to pray in church without one on my head. As I studied the Bible further and dipped into a few commentaries, though, I began to understand why Paul was so concerned with this ancient, feminine practice of covering the head….

I'm going to pause there and ask you to check back tomorrow to find out why the Apostle Paul made such a big deal about women's accessories and what that has to do with us. Until then....

Going green!

Lynn Fleshman

(Click here to read part 2 of this post.)

Ladies, here's the last post for my week--written by a dear friend. She's also single, and quite a woman! Be encouraged:

Introductions are the best way to start, hello my name is Ginger Price; I am the embodiment of my name—spicey and full of life. Ten years ago at the age of 26, God brought me to St. Louis to be a part of Jubilee Church.

When I packed my car to move, a set of expectations about God’s plans came with me. It has been tempting to lament about the dreams that haven’t come to pass. Doing that would reflect the focus back on me as they were my wants and desires. This is not right thinking; I am here to serve Jesus and a purpose that goes beyond me. My actions and choices count for generations of people to come.

God has shown me that when I give my whole heart to Him (which if I’m honest it is on loan from Him to begin with) I will not be disappointed. He promises that He will give us the desires of our heart; for me this has involved reshaping those desires.

I would not trade the last decade for anything—it’s not been easy—and thankfully He didn’t give me what I wanted. He has changed my thinking and the vision I have for my life. He has not let me wander from Him, He has continually renewed my heart and removed hard places and through the process continues to write my story into His wonderful plan.

I have seen many friends that have wandered from Him because they were discouraged or wanted their own desires and for this I am sad, but I am here to say that God will not disappoint, if you set your heart on Him and you will be satisfied.

ee cummings is one of my favorite poets and recently I read a portion of i carry your heart with me that is a picture of how our hearts become one with His. I’ve included the last stanza. I love it, but the last lines are the ones that I think are beautiful.

i carry your heart with me

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

You can read the rest of the poem here, http://tinyurl.com/3b5psh.

When God gave me a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26); I made the choice to lay down my desires, hopes and dreams and take on His vision, His grace and His compassion—that is when I become fulfilled. I look forward to hearing the stories of how you’ve carried His heart for the Kingdom.

Going Green,
Ginger Price, also known as The Ging