Set Apart

After my last experience delving in to the world of literature for the "Christian" young woman, I was even more hesitant to read the next book on my list. However, when it arrived at the library, I checked it out prepared to be disappointed and frustrated with yet another book of feel-good, sappy, Jesus-ness. Set-Apart Femininity by Leslie Ludy (co-author of When God Writes Your Love Story, which did nothing to raise my expectations of this book) claims to be "not the same old message you've always heard. It's a radical call to counterculture lifestyle in which every aspect of your femininity… is shaped by an intimate relationship with your King of kings. It's the kind of heroic femininity that the world changing women of history understood." I pondered this book's potential as I wandered home from the library; to be honest, this book's back-cover left me no more impressed than Captivating's, a feeling that was only solidified by my brother's declaration of, "that looks like a horrible book." Nevertheless, I resolved to read it, or at least flip through it until I could no longer tolerate it. However, flipping it open to the table of contents nearly made me gag. Titles such as "Sacred Mystique: femininity that changes men into princes," "Sacred Priority: femininity that captivates [there's that word again!] the masculine heart," and "Sacred Ardor: femininity that makes marriage dreams come true" nearly made me toss the book aside!

I still find the titles of the chapters repulsive (perhaps that word is a little strong but I like it :D), but if I had to recommend a book of this genre to a fellow sister in Christ it would be this book. There are still some aspects of it I find frustrating, and I'm not sure what she bases some of her statements on, but overall it's the best of its kind I've read. Ludy clearly emphasizes the main problem I had with Captivating, that apart from God we are NOT beautiful. She says that, "The God of the universe, the Author of all that is good and lovely, passed by and saw me in wretched, hopeless condition. He was not attracted to my beauty or goodness because I had none. I had absolutely nothing to offer him. I was ugly and helpless, drowning in the blood of my own guilt and condemnation. But incredibly, beyond all logic, beyond all comprehension, He had compassion on me. He rescued me. He entered in a covenant with me. He made me His own." Ludy writes passionately against Christian mediocrity, she exhorts young women to be bold prayer-warriors and slaves to Christ abandoning our own passions. She stressed the importance of living for God because of what He has done for us, not because of what He might do for us if we live for Him.

As I stated above, I still have some issues with the book. Although she does back up most of her declarations with Scripture, there are times when she does not. Be advised if you read this book, to be very aware of what is or is not backed up by Scripture. If you can't back up your statements with scripture, you ought not to make them. However, with a couple of sections in the book, even though she did not use any scripture I could very easily think of Bible passages she could have used. I challenge you to read with a Bible next to you, if you can't find it in scripture take it to someone who's faith you admire and ask them, if they can't, disregard that statement! Another problem I had with this book is that Ludy uses herself many times as an example of how to do things right. Whether or not she did do things right, I personally find it very frustrating when authors or speakers seem to speak of themselves as much as they do of God. And while Ludy does use quite a few other godly Christian women as examples, she uses herself just as often.

Even though I don't' agree with her on every point, I admire Leslie Ludy for not being afraid to write a book that is meant to challenge instead of excuse, promote femininity for the glory of God instead of ruining it by making its sole purpose to acquire worldly admiration. May God bless every young woman who actively seeks to be Set-Apart to God, to be focused on the glory of Christ and not the glory of self, to be captivated and not captivating.

Captivating or Captivated

A currently popular book among Christian young women is Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul. This book proudly proclaims that,

“What Wild at Heart did for men, Captivating can do for women. This groundbreaking book shows readers the glorious design of women before the fall, describes how the feminine heart can be restored, and casts a vision for the power, freedom, and beauty of a woman released to be all she was meant to be. By revealing the core desires every woman shares-to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a grand adventure, and to unveil beauty-John and Stasi Eldredge invite women to recover their feminine hearts, created in the image of an intimate and passionate God. Further, they encourage men to discover the secret of a woman's soul and to delight in the beauty and strength women were created to offer.”

Sounds pretty good right? I tend to be a biased reader when it comes to books about femininity and beauty; I expect them all to be horrible. Why? Is it because I believe in feminism and female empowerment? Not at all! I can’t stand the feminist movement! It robs women of any chance they had of being feminine. I find these types of books horrible because I don’t think godly femininity is something that can be humanly taught. Every woman’s quest for femininity and godly beauty is a special, glorious journey with God. You can tell me as often as you want that I am “beautiful in God’s sight” but I’m not going to believe it until God teaches me. A process I believe takes the entirety of a woman’s life.

All of that aside, I attempted to be objective as I flipped through the pages of this book. However I still found the message to be warped and potentially devastatingly harmful to young women. I have not read the whole book, but I did find a review of Captivating that very clearly explained all the problems I was finding in this book. Tim Challis describes some of the main flaws I saw in this book:

“I was surprised to see that the book paid scant attention to those passages of the Bible that particularly address women. I do not recall any attempt to interact with Paul’s epistles; Proverbs 31 received only one mention, and it was only in the context of sneering at the church’s fixation with that traditional role model. In fact, the only passages that received any significant attention were Genesis 2 and 3. The authors rewrote Genesis 2:18, which most translations render similar to “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” They turned to a commentary and translation written by Robert Alter and suggested a better translation of the verse is “I will make a sustainer beside him” (page 27). Strangely, though, they later seem to indicate that a man does have some sort of authority over his wife.

Eldredge rehashes the worst of The Sacred Romance, drawing extensively from Hosea and Song of Solomon and using sexual terminology. He says that God has a deep, fiery, passionate love for women and that He wishes to romance us. “Think of one of the most romantic scenes you can remember, scenes that made you sigh. Jack with Rose on the bow of the Titanic, his arms around her waist, their first kiss. Wallace speaking in French to Murron, then in Italian: “Not as beautiful as you.” Aragorn, standing with Arwen in the moonlight on the bridge in Rivendell, declaring his love for her. Edward returning for Elinor in Sense and Sensibility, and professor Behr returning for Jo at the end of Little Women. Now, put yourself in the scene as the Beauty, and Jesus as the Lover” (page 114). This clearly goes far beyond the biblical metaphors for God’s love.

Ironically, while God is presented as a wild Romancer, He is also presented in an emasculated form. We are told that God has been wooing you. We are told that “you are meant to fill a place in the heart of God no one and nothing else can fill. He longs for you” (page 120). This almost seems to indicate that God needs us to make His joy and satisfaction complete. There are often several references to our need to minister to the heart of Jesus through our worship. All of this portrays an inaccurate understanding of God.”

On one page Captivating says this, “Beauty is the most essential and, yes, the most misunderstood of all the feminine qualities. We want you to hear clearly that it is an essence every woman carries from the moment of her creation. The only things standing in the way of our beauty is our doubts and fears, and the hiding and striving we fall to as a result.” While some of this could be considered accurate and we do have the potential to be beautiful before God there’s more than just our fears and doubts standing in our way. There’s one main thing standing in our way that is stronger than any type of fear or doubt, sin. Sin is what separates us from God. God does not see you as beautiful. God loves you in spite of your sin, but he doesn’t find you beautiful. It is only when you have been washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus, that he sees you as beautiful, because when he looks at you, he no longer sees you He sees Christ. And Christ is gorgeous!!!

While I’m not positive that this is where the authors came up with the title, there is one passage in Proverbs that refers to a husband being captivated by his wife. However, I took a look at a The Message (a paraphrase of the Bible that attempts to take the Hebrew metaphors and concepts and convert them to modern English) and The Message translates that same verse this way, “Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose - don't ever quit taking delight in her body. Never take her love for granted!” (Proverbs 5:19) Slightly different meaning then when we think of captivating a guy, isn’t it?

I think we as women ought not to be so concerned with being “captivating.” I think we ought to be more concerned with being “captivated.” “Christian” America is teaching its young women that we should fall in love with Jesus while we wait for Him to bring us the “perfect” man. How about we start teaching our young women to be captivated by God regardless of the man he may or may not bring into our lives. How about we teach our young woman to focus on Christ not because when we focus on Him we will be found beautiful by men but because an obsession with Christ is what he deserves because of what He’s done for us!

This song by Watermark is to me what the desire and prayer of every Christian young woman ought to be:

Your face is beautiful
And Your eyes are like the stars
Your gentle hands have healing
There inside the scars
Your loving arms they draw me near
And Your smile it brings me peace
Draw me closer oh my Lord
Draw me closer Lord to Thee

Captivate us, Lord Jesus
Set our eyes on You
Devastate us with Your presence
Falling down
And rushing river, draw us nearer
Holy fountain consume us with You
Captivate us Lord Jesus, with You

Your voice is powerful
And Your words are radiant bright
In Your breath and shadow
I will come close and abide
You whisper love and life divine
And Your fellowship is free
Draw me closer O my Lord
Draw me closer Lord to Thee

Captivate us, Lord Jesus
Set our eyes on You
Devastate us with Your presence
Falling down
And rushing river, draw us nearer
Holy fountain consume us with You
Captivate us Lord Jesus, with You

Let everything be lost in the shadows
Of the light of Your face
Let every chain be broken from me
As I’m bound in Your grace
For Your yoke is easy, Your burden is light
You’re full of wisdom, power and might
And every eye will see You

Captivate us, Lord Jesus
Set our eyes on You
Devastate us with Your presence
Falling down
And rushing river, draw us nearer
Holy fountain consume us with You
Captivate us Lord Jesus, with You

For The Glory of Christ -

To live is Christ
I have a passion in my heart I've never know before
That makes me love Him more
To die is gain
I am learning though surrender what it really means
To know that I am free

And it's my prayer
I would live each day in such a way
That in all I do I would bring Him praise

Chorus:
For the glory of Christ
I'll lay down everything that I've been given
All my hopes and my ambitions
For what He wants for me
For the glory of Christ
I'll take up my cross and follow
Wherever He may lead I'll live my life
For the glory of Christ

He knows my heart
He knows I seldom measure up to what I long to be
And what He has for me
I know His grace
And I have seen how far His arms will reach to rescue me
From the man that I could be

And it's my prayer
I would live each day in such a way

That in all I do I would bring Him praise

BRIDGE:
And when I think of what my life was worth
And how He gave His life to bring salvation to this world

How could I ever offer less than He deserves.

By Eddie Carswell, David Allen Clark, and Michael David O'Brien

Fun Find :)

I am a huge Jane Austen fan! I absolutely love anything Jane Austen

Today, through Kelly over at The Best Dressed Nest, I discovered a wonderful new Jane Austen-y thing!

A beautiful font that, while not entirely practical for college paper writing :), is wonderful for any classy print job you may have, or just for fun. You can pick it up for free over at dafont.com.

So here, in that lovely font, is a portion of Pride and Prejudice. Doesn't it just make you want to pick it up and read!

They walked on without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought and felt and said, for attention to any other objects. She soon learned that they were indebted for their present good understanding to the efforts of his aunt, who did call on him in her return through London, and there relate her journey to Long- bourn, its motive, and the substance of her conversation with Elizabeth; dwelling emphatically on every expression of the latter which in her Ladyship's apprehension peculiarly denoted her perverseness and assurance in the belief that such a relation must assist her endeavors to obtain that promise from her nephew which she had refused to give. But unluckily for her Ladyship, its effect had been exactly contrariwise. "It taught me to hope," said he, "as I had scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before. I knew enough of your disposition to be certain that had you been absolutely, irrevocably decided against me, you would have acknowledged it to Lady Catherine frankly and openly."

Someday.....

So I am completely obsessed with everything to do with Homemaking. Cooking, cleaning organizing, sewing, and. . . Decorating!!

Now I know chances are even if I do manage to get married and have my own house, I probably won't be able to decorate to my heart's content simply because of finances. But. . . a girl's gotta dream :)

Several years ago my parents gave me a teacup and saucer, the beginning of my own Noritake China set! The pattern is called Sweet Leilani and it looks like this . . .

It's kind of hard to tell from the picture. But it's mostly a soft purple color and a sage green. Which leads me to my paint colors for my "dining room"


So this color looks much more purple-pinkish on the computer than it does in real life. But what I want is a pale, pale, purple almost cream kind of wall color,


with this nice chocolaty brown for the trim.
and this lovely sage for accessories like linens and such.


Now for the everyday dishes I have an absolute obsession with square plates. I LOVE these brown ones from Bed Bath and Beyond.
with these sorta squarish glasses
Now the flatware I don't really care about, but I like this because it has the same square look but it's softer than the harsh square flatware that I saw.
For everyday meals I like just plain placemats, they're easier to switch out if someone spills something. You don't have to replace the whole tablecloth just one placemat. But for fancier meals I like an actual tablecloth. These are the same brand so theoretically they're the same color even if they don't look it. I'm hoping they're more like the tablecloth color :)


I also like to have napkin rings on my napkins all the time, they just look neater and cleaner that way, plust you don't have to worry quite as much about wrinkles. These are nice because they are silver so you could use them with the china and the everyday. And again, they're square!


Last but not least I like these curtains because they have color yet they're light and airy so they won't make the whole room look dark.

So that's my dream dining room :) I just had to share!

He is Risen!

I cannot tell why He, the Joy of Heaven,
Should give Himself to suffer for my sin,
Why Holy God should love me in my shamefulness,
Why He should die to draw my soul to Him.
But this I know: that Christ the Lord is risen,
And praise His name, He's risen now in me!
Because He lives, I'll rise to life eternal!
He took my guilty heart, and I'm forever free!

The Spirit of Youth

Sonnet 98
~William Shakespeare~

From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him,
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odor and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew.
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seemed it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

I have decided I need to move….

This week I have come to a big decision. I need to move! Why, you may ask? What could possible entice me to move away from my beautiful Brooklyn?

Well to be honest I'm scared. Now you're thinking what could possible scare me enough to make me move, is there some creepy predator on the loose? No, that's not it, though last Thursday the police we're definitely out about the neighborhood looking for something….. or someone.

No, predators don't scare me. Mice don't even scare me anymore no matter how gross they may be crawling about on the subway tracks….

Can we say eww. But no, mice/rats will not make me move.

Perhaps it's the copious amount of plumbing problems we've had, the kind that made us have to call Roto-Rooter this week.

No, that's not it either. Gross but not scary.

The thing that's made me decide I need to move is quite small really, but oh so creepy!

Water bugs!

Seriously, I used to think nothing was creepier than a giant black water bug crawling around on your floor. But now I know better. There is one thing creepier. And that's a giant black water bug crawling on your finger!!! Just yesterday I went to put on my sneakers and as a sat down and picked up the shoe to put it on my foot…… there was a water bug on the middle finger of my right hand crawling frantically upward!!!

Luckily for me, and for those of you grossed out just reading this, I came out victorious. For as a gave out a small little girlish shriek and flung the nasty creature onto the floor, I managed to knock over the old street sign I have sitting in my room, effectively squashing that sick little (or not so little) bug!

Now, my weapon of choice against these gross bugs happens to be a can of Raid because then I don't have to worry about seeing bug guts and so forth, but I was none to sorry to see this particular buggy squashed to oblivion. Perhaps I am insensitive and cruel; I mean, after all they are God's creatures just as I am. But personally, the second they step foot, or creepy crawly leg thing as the case may be, into my house they better be prepared to run for the hills (or at least the plumbing) 'cause I'm coming after them! Either they're moving or I'm moving! I refuse to cohabitate!