Chapter 3 Comments from Joan

Where has the time gone? Although Chapter 3 is not exactly fresh in my mind, I would like to comment about a few things I have learned. On page 64 it says, "What we believe about God is crucial because it affects what we believe about everything else...If we do not see Him as He really is -... we will have a distorted view of ourselves." Isn't that the truth? So many times I've allowed thoughts from worldly things - magazines, books, movies, etc cloud my thinking not only about God, but also about myself. I found the comment on page 66 quite enlightening, "Even when the input is, in and of itself, true, the Deceiver can use that data to put us in bondage." What a good reminder for me to watch what I say to my grandchildren and even my children at their advanced age. Satan loves to twist things around and make a person feel inadequate any way he can. May we personally believe the truth - that God declared the value of our soul to be greater than the value of the whole world. John 8:31-32. On page 69 we are reminded that "low self-esteem" is one of the most common diagnoses of our day. It is so important to find our value in God, not in what someone thinks about us - to find our identity in Christ. As it says on page 71, "Our need is not to love ourselves more but to receive His incredible love for us and to accept His design and purpose for our lives. Once we have received His love... we will become channels of His love to others." Personally, being shy since I was young has been very difficult for me. At times I have said, "That's the way I am, I can never change." In reality I know that God can change that area of my life, but I tend to be satisfied with the way I am and not want to allow God to change me. I found the comment on page 74 most interesting..."The fact is, successful relationships and healthy cultures are not built on the claiming of rights but on the yielding of rights." What would our world be like if we did that? Christ didn't claim his rights - he didn't argue with his false accusers, but yielded Himself to death on the cross even though He was innocent. I definitely need to yield all my rights to the One who ultimately holds all rights. Page 80 held a good reminder for me about how I dress, talk and act around others. It says, "Don't think, dress, or act like the world; inwardly and outwardly, let others see the difference He makes in your life... Page 81, "The outward appearance of the Christian woman is to reflect a heart that is simple, pure, and well-ordered; her clothing and hairstyles should not be distracting or draw attention to herself by being extravagant, extreme, or indecent. In this way, she reflects the true condition of her heart and her relationship with the Lord, and she makes the Gospel attractive to the world." A lot of pain and suffering could be avoided if I and others would have followed that advice. In closing I just wanted to comment on something the author said on page 86. She states, "God has made us in such a way that we can never be truly satisfied with anything or anyone less than Himself and that it is not wrong to have unfulfilled longings. We must learn to accept those longings, surrender them to God, and look to Him to meet the deepest needs of our hearts." What a blessing to know that God can and does meet all our needs. When I first got married I thought my husband would meet all my needs, but I soon found out that was not going to be true! It was very disappointing at the time, but at the same time, I could also see that I would never be able to meet all of my husbands needs. :) Praise God, He can meet all of our needs!

Chapter 4

Ladies, I would like to apologize about how long it has taken me to post again. I allowed myself to get caught up in things that were going on around me and let my book reading fall to the wayside.

It feels as though the further I read this book the more applicable to my life it is. I am constantly amazed by the sin in my life that I have never realized was there. Each chapter I read I think wow this is so true!

The first sin that is covered is the belief that we can sin and get away with it. I completely agree with the author that we fall into this because we don't see an immediate reaction/discipline to a sin we just committed. Its not that I don't believe that we won't reap what we sow but looking long term instead of just in the moment is not something I look at when I sin, whether it is consciously or subconsciously.

Some of the sins that the author highlighted and that I highlighted as well are, lack of restraint causes lack of restraint in other areas of life and indulgences we make can also be reproduced in our children. Talk about sin passing on to the next generation. Another on I can see in my life and society is the entertainment of oneself of reading, movies, TV etc. and not always stopping to think of the repercussions. I have gotten better at this but I still stumble. Another big thing is holding a grudge. You never think about how this will affect your life, causing you to be unhappy bitter and stressed out. If we are unhappy and bitter those around us (children) will also be. Not something I want to pass on to my children. My favourite line in this section is, "The Truth is that every choice we make today will have consequences." I think this could stand for both good or bad choices.

The next lie of believing our sin isn't really that bad I feel comes from society (and ourselves) wanting to justify our actions and not see them as sins. Who wants to think that wasting your time, talking to much, overspending, being selfish etc are sins. Those are weaknesses and too many times we push them off as personality traits or even worse in my mind, something we do because of situations in life that have made us that way. Once again it takes away from our responsibility which the author talks about in sin #16. We are responsible for our actions.

The lie of God not being able to or won't forgive my sins is something I struggle with in a different way then described in the book. My struggle is for my repeated sins a small portion of my mind wonders why God continues to forgive my repeated sins and if He will get "tired" of it. This ties into lie #17 I cannot walk in consistent victory over sin. If I already have it in my mind I wont succeed or I believe I am going to sin again, I will.

In closing this book continues to amaze me and open my eyes. I was very skeptical at first but I am very thankful this was the first choice and book read.