Catching My Breath

Dear friends,

It has been a while since I have posted on here. I've thought about it many a time, but life has kept me running. In the beginning of the year I was working several (very) part-time jobs and work study. It was really just too much. The Lord provided just enough that I could afford to quit work study if I just trusted Him to provide another two hundred and fifty dollars somehow throughout the year. (Or, if He doesn't provide that, the other option is for Him to keep my car healthy so I don't actually use up my car repair budget!)I have no doubt that He will provide in one way or another. He always does.

Senior year means Fall Block for education majors. It's a really interesting set up because basically we squish semester long classes into a month and a little. While it means that I only have three classes at once, the workload is definitely increased. Keeps me hopping. The classes are each between two and three hours long, but my professors do a good job of using the time well. When it's not needed (mostly for my Senior Integration Paper class), we get let out early. Woohoo!

I am also down the mountain in a classroom two days a week, on Tuesday and Thursday. It has been so confirming, but a little overwhelming, to be working with kids. Confirming because I love it, but overwhelming because there are so many problems in education that I feel helpless to fix. I've prayed a lot, to say the least.

I got sick this past week. I tried to pull myself together and go to school anyway, but I just ended up being up all that night with a fever and feeling tons worse. After a day off, a shot, antibiotics, a new inhaler, and increased dosage in my old one, I am finally on the mend. I would still love prayers for health. The doctor told me I should expect to be sick a lot for the next few years as my body gets used to being around little kids all the time at school.

The Lord has been teaching me about His power to sustain me and about how I've GOT to live like a child, dependent and trusting. Please pray that He would continue to give me strength, courage, insight, and deep love.

Wow, that was a long update. That's how I am. I hope you are all doing well!

Love and peace in Christ our risen Savior,
April

Answered Prayer and Vacation

Dear friends,

Greetings from St. Petersburg, FL where I have been joyfully (lightly) toasting my skin in the sun and sipping sweet tea. (While my northerner's preference is NORMAL tea, this is good stuff.) This is my "Sabbath" for the summer and it is delightful. I am visiting my dear friends, Jed and Bethany Mootsey for just a long weekend.

I want to tell you great news of answered prayers since I last posted. The Lord allowed us to go to Casa Hogar in Acapulco and gave me many sweet conversations with the kids there. (My Spanish held up. They told me I was better than last summer... that's a joke!) I was encouraged by the progress of some of my little brothers and sisters and saddened to see the hardness of others. Still, God has brought back some sweet missionaries that are doing great work at Casa Hogar and Sobre el Puente.

The Lord has also recently answered another prayer (a request I had been asking about). Josh is in Costa Rica at language school, and three weeks in he had yet to meet another Christian. He was in need of some encouragement, so we prayed that he would meet a Christian. In a matter of two days, he met two! Praise God! I would love continued prayers for his last week there. Hay que trabajar mucho!

The Lord is teaching me much and being so patient! I will miss the sweet people at Orangewood, but I have such confidence that I am heading where He wants me right now. Continued prayers for boldness, growth, and rest would be much appreciated!

I will be traveling to Chattanooga this coming Tuesday, and then starts senior year of college. Am I really that old? Certainly not at heart.

Thank you for your prayers and love... God is good!

Bye Bye!

I'm off to Camp Kulaqua with middle school, followed by Mexico! Pray for us!

Mannnn!

Dear friends,

It is so hard to believe the summer is almost over. I have the weekend, followed by camp with the middle schoolers, followed by Mexico, and then I am down to ten days left here. PLEASE pray that the Lord will still give me some wonderful conversations with my high school and middle school girls. Honestly, I feel like I have not accomplished anything this summer FOR Orangewood, but I am certain that Orangewood has (by God's grace) accomplished much in me. I have grown so much in my understanding of the Gospel, myself, and ministry. I feel... deepened. Yes, deepened.

In a lot of ways, I wish I was called to be here longer. I feel like the Lord is just now opening up a lot of doors into many people's hearts (both students and other people I have met) for ministry and deep friendship. Yet, I know that I need to be back in Chattanooga soon. Please just pray for God to give me peace with not having done anything amazing this summer. It's really pride, I think, that makes me wish I felt like I had really impacted people here. It's funny, because at the beginning of the summer I told the Lord, "I don't care if I don't get to see it... just use me to reach people. It's fine if I don't have a clue that you've used me." ... but now, at the winding up of it all, I wish I saw "results." Oh silly heart! Trust that God works through His people and does what He intends through and despite us! Please, friends, pray that He has and continues to do great things.

If you are one of my sweet praying friends, I would love prayer that:

1. I'd be able to travel to Mexico in a week. (We never know how safe it will be.) Pray that God will allow me to communicate the love of a Christ through another visit to my precious friends at Casa Hogar.
2. I'd be increasingly humbled and lifted up... and that I'd be learning more and more!
3. Wisdom for Josh and me as we talk through a lot of decisions.
4. Peace and love!

God is good, and I am not. Praise Him!

April

Summer Blog

Hi friends!

As you know, I'm now in Orlando. I love it! God is definitely keeping me aware of my need for Him. This is so tiring and SO awesome. Please keep praying that He will work mightily.

Over the summer, I will be blogging for the church I am working with at http://owoodintern5.blogspot.com. I also plan to keep up this blog on occasion, but feel free to take a look there for updates too.

Thank you guys for praying for me and for taking an interest in what God is up to in my story.

He is good!

Praise God!

Well, friends, I have great news! I only have $150 more to raise for my one week mission trip to Acapulco. (I expect it will come in shortly.) Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray that the Lord will keep things safe enough in Acapulco that we will be able to go as planned in late July. I can't wait to see my precious brothers and sisters again. Please continue to pray for their growth in Christ--and for the salvation of those who have not accepted Christ yet.

I have one last day with my family tomorrow and then I fly out on Tuesday to Florida. I am so excited to spend the summer being discipled and taught about youth ministry. I hope the Lord will use me in a lot of little ways. Please pray for my ministry and growth over the summer.

My mother was talking on the phone the other day and telling a friend that I would be gone for the summer, once again. She labeled me "adventurous" in her conversation, which made me think. Am I really adventurous? I actually think I'm a bit of a chicken. At the same time, I love change and new things. Perhaps it is only when God instills a specific idea in my head that I get adventurous. Either way, it's off to the next adventure on Tuesday!

Please continue to lift me up in prayer! Here are some updated requests:

1. That the Lord would give me a firmer grasp of my identity in Jesus.
2. That the Lord would teach me and use me this summer. Pray for the high schoolers at Orangewood, that the Lord would prepare their hearts for this summer.
3. Please pray for a safe trip to Acapulco in July and for the opportunity to follow up with many of my dear friends. Please pray specifically that a few of the teenagers I keep in touch with would be walking with the Lord.
4. Please pray for Josh and me. Ask that the Lord would grow us closer to himself and teach us how to better serve each other and serve together. Please, as always, pray that God's will be done.
5. Please pray that He will teach me to "lean not on my own understanding."

Thank you, for being part of my adventure, by reading these updates! Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ who remains faithful when we are fickle, who restores us gently as our Shepherd.

Where is justice?

Every Christian really should struggle at some point with this question: Where is justice? Sometimes I just want to scream in agony, seeing all the pain and sin and terror in the world. How long will you wait, Father?

The truth is, while my faith holds strong, I am struggling right now. God, where is justice? How can you stand to leave things so? Yet, I know He feels that tension too. I know He is good. I know He is at work.

Abba, help me trust your timing.

The Weary Traveler

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind! The last week of school was canceled, following the touch down of some twenty tornadoes in the Chattanooga area. Thankfully, none touched down on campus, but they did damage to the water company that cut off our water supply. So, let out a week early, we were not sure what to think! I certainly was not unhappy to miss out on exams, but it was an abrupt goodbye. We were given twenty four hours to evacuate, and as RA I spent a lot of that trying to help get other people out. What a mess! Then, just as I was leaving, my car check engine light came on. Since it was the weekend, I could not get my car fixed. Josh and I hoped to be at his brother's play the next afternoon in Augusta, so I had to leave my car at my dear friend Cathy's house.

The weeks that ensued were wonderful. We started out by visiting Josh's family for a few days. After that, we traveled to Marietta where we spent several days hanging out with some of our closest friends. Then, we went back to Chattanooga to get my car fixed. (Praise God, it was not too expensive!) After that, it was back to Josh's house. Three days later, we were on the road to Florida for a wedding I was in. It was beautiful! Yesterday, I flew into Wisconsin for a two week visit before my summer job begins in Florida.

It was fun to jump around and see so many people. We were blessed with generous hospitality everywhere we went. However, it is so great to be home, where I can take a nap and have my own space. Of course, I am being dramatic to call myself a "weary traveler," because these were great weeks of fun. However, I am in need of some good rest!

Praise our God who is ever faithful! Please continue to pray that He will work in my heart and shape me to be more like our Jesus!

A Hebrews 13 Life

I have been thinking a lot about personal mission statements lately, thanks to the helpful (though repetitive) Dan Allender and his book To Be Told. I am only half way through the book, but one of the ideas in it is that you have to read your past in order to write your future. He is not advocating that we have complete control over our destiny, but instead that we should take some responsibility in the direction of our life, a "co-authorship" with God.

Along with these concepts, Allender presents the idea of a life mission statement constructed based on the themes God has woven into our past and present. While hearing about this from Allender, I was also talking about school mission statements in one of my classes. I have come to the (temporary) conclusion that I would like to write a personal mission statement, but also that I would like to consider the mission statement as something fluid that will change to some degree with the seasons of life.

In my reading of late, in Hebrews, I was struck by the content of Hebrews 13 and how it has some great principles to weave into a personal mission statement. I thought I might share it with you all to think about as well. My gathered "concepts" will be written in bold type, and are not part of the Scripture.

1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.
Love (and show love to) your fellow believers intentionally and unconditionally.
2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
Practice hospitality to the extreme; don't limit your house guests to family and friends.
3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Hold the persecuted church in your heart--and as you can, do something to help. At the same time, lament the suffering of all, around the world.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Remember that marriage is sacred; it represents Christ and the church and is to be treated with care.
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”[a] 6 So we say with confidence,“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]
Be content with what you have, because what you have is the greatest gift of all: the presence of the Most High dwelling inside of you. Do not let yourself get too caught up in the pleasures of this world.
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Seek out and learn from mentors. Make sure those mentors are clearly emulating Jesus Christ, that he is the constant.
9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.
Know your Bible and what you believe. Hold on like crazy to grace.
10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Remember that we are a people set apart, but that the only reason we are different from any other is the blood of Jesus Christ. Praise Jesus who suffered and died for us! We will, as aliens, be treated as aliens--and so we remember who we are.
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.
Confess Him! At every corner! In every conversation that provide opportunity, tell of His goodness!
16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Love in action, for the purpose of pleasing your Lord.
17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
Obey authority out of respect for God.
18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.
Pray for missionaries and ministry workers--for spiritual, physical, and emotional needs.
20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
We can confidently attempt to live a life like this because God will equip us to do it! We are operating out of grace, through Jesus Christ, so we are free to try and fail! We can tackle anything now, without fear.

AMEN.

I want to live something like that, and I aim to try.

Gospel

We had an awesome speaker in chapel the other day. I was not sure, to be honest, what to think of him when he first started talking. When he walked up to the pulpit in trendy jeans and a v-neck black button up, I was not sure what to expect. Trendy pastors can be passionate preachers, but they can also be fluff preachers-- in my limited experience, at least. This, however, was no fluff preacher.

During my summer in Mexico, I had spent time reading and discussing Jerry Bridge's The Disciplines of Grace. One of the big themes in that book is that on some level we believe our good behavior is necessary to keep God's favor, but that is SO wrong. God relates to us on the basis of Jesus--all the time! This speaker reiterated these themes as well as brought up an interesting idea, "Christian growth doesn't happen by behaving better, but by believing better." He presented this concept, stolen from Tim Keller, of "blessed self-forgetfulness." The idea is that sometimes we get to caught up in looking at ourselves and trying to be holy, instead of looking to Jesus and seeing grace. The problem is, if we focus too much on ourselves and perfecting ourselves, Christianity can become a new form of self-improvement instead of a radical Jesus-driven life. AMEN! Yes, I want to be introspective and to put off the old self and put on the new self. But YES, I need to look more at Jesus and less at me. How do we balance this perspective with the call to action so clearly in the Bible? It's all about focus. After all, if I am constantly focused on the Gospel, it only makes sense that holiness will spill out, right?

An interesting thought to leave you with:
"The only people that actually get better are the people who increasingly understand that their relationship with God doesn't depend on getting better."

Abba, help me focus on Jesus and revel in grace!

Update

Whewwww! Man, life is busy. God is good! I really do not even know how to summarize the past few weeks. I am afraid this may a bit disjointed!

Of late, life has been full of tests, projects, planning, and more. Of course, I've fit some good fun in the mix as well. My birthday was marvelous, I felt so loved and uplifted. The best part of it is that overall I felt encouraged that the SPIRIT is doing things through me, instead of feeling that I was something else. GOD IS WORKING! Praise Him! I was reflecting on how much I have changed and grown in the past year, and it is quite extensive. I am most certain that I am being inhabited by a powerful God. Ha, of course, that is not to say my "old self" does not rear its ugly head on frequent occasion. It does. Yet, I know the Spirit walks with me.

For those of you who pray for me, please continue to pray for meekness and humility, for a grace-embracing-and-endowing lifestyle, and for diligence! May Jesus Christ be praised!

Looking up,
April

Sunshine State?

Well Day 1 in Florida is completed. While we were disappointed to be greeted with clouds and cold winds at the beach, we still had a marvelous day.

My old roommate, Bethany, and her parents are kindly letting Laura, Bethany Daniels, and me stay at their place--so we have a delightful, inexpensive spring break. Today, we went to Sunday School, church, and a potluck followed by volleyball on the beach and then Bible study. Last but not least, I played Scrabble with Bethany's little (but over 6') brother, Caleb. It has been an enjoyable day.

I really enjoyed seeing Bethany's church--great teaching, sweet people. The Lord brought me a lot of encouragement through different teaching sessions today. One of the big ideas from the sermon: trusting that God will keep his promises. He will! Praise Him!

Well anyway, it's bedtime for April. I hope to get up at a decent hour tomorrow and get to work on a paper. No rest for the weary. Hehe. Seriously, though, it will be a wonderful break.

An Education

Last night, we watched "An Education," a newer film. Perhaps you haven't even heard of it. It hasn't been much publicized. The story, in short, is about a sixteen year old girl that gets involved with a much older guy. She falls in love with him (or maybe the party life of jazz concerts, trips to Paris, and pretty art.) The man is a con artist, and even when she finds out, he convinces her to stay with him--and he uses his con skills to reel in her parents. Maybe an hour into the movie, we find him telling his friend "she is the one" and asking her to marry him. Everyone is quite happy, and her parents even tell her to forsake her dreams of Oxford and marry him. She drops out of school, missing her last exams, and sets her life on course to marry this man. Sadly, she soon finds out he is currently married. It all blows up in her face, and she finds out she is not the first woman to have this promise. There is a good ending, which I appreciate, where she does find a way to take her exams and go to Oxford... but the movie left me sad.

It was so heavy. Why was it? Because an older man preyed on a naive younger girl? No. He was wrong, but he did have real feelings for her. Was it heavy because she gave away her future without knowing what she was doing, mirroring many youth today? No. It was heavy because there was no Jesus. All the parties, flowers, and concerts in the world-- all the charming men and fun friends-- they leave the world still largely bleak and heavy. We need Jesus!

The movie attempts to give another option for happiness. The girl visits her old English teacher in desperation at the end, finding her home bright, cheery and cozy-- with a few pieces of good art and a piano. The girl concludes that this is really what everyone needs: a nice, small space of their own.

I don't buy it.
It's Jesus.

Worship

In Colossians 3:17, we are told, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

The question: what does it mean to do everything in the name of Jesus. Josh picked my up from a babysitting job tonight, and as we drove back, I wondered:

Does "worship" always have to be a conscious, intellectual process? Or can I still be worshiping God when I am caught up in the bliss of making music? If my heart were first captive to Jesus, if my identity were to lie in him, if my life ambitions were grounded in him... and I got caught up in bliss... without an intentional, mental focus on Jesus... could it still be worship?

It would seem that it must be possible... because to both be thinking about Jesus and doing math equations in your head at the same time is impossible. There is no way to add two plus two but at the same moment be thinking about Jesus. It is possible to have thoughts of him mixed in between questions... but is that what worship is supposed to look like? Not to be irreverent, but let's think about this: Two plus two is four. Wow, it's awesome that God made the world so logical. Four plus four is eight. Man, I am so thankful that God is orderly.... That just seems impractical and ridiculous.

So. What is it? Where is the thing that turns a normal act into worship? Is it the motives? If I am learning math to learn how to better serve Jesus, it stands to reason that it would be worship. But it still leaves the question, is simply having Jesus-focused overarching motives doing everything in the name of Jesus? It is clearly not possible to have our sights 100% on Jesus in the middle of everything.

Perhaps you think I am over thinking.

Think again.

Example: Josh and I took my friend Cathy's two little boys bowling. I realized, an hour into bowling, that I had not once thought about Jesus in that hour. I had been focused on getting the boys to enjoy themselves and enjoy our company. While that is important... not thinking about Jesus once in a whole hour is pretty sad, no matter what my motives are. Ultimately, I should not want to just "make them happy," but I should want to draw them closer to Jesus.

Well, bedtime. The wheels keep turning. Maybe the answers will all come to me in a dream :P

Summer Job!

Well friends, I am waiting! I have an interview coming up on Friday for a job as a youth ministry intern in Florida, and I am waiting for a call from Winshape camps about a job. Soon the chips will fall in place! I am really excited to see where God takes me this summer. The cool thing is, if I am able to get either of these jobs, they will allow for at least a little time at home on either end of the summer. Not only that, but they will also be a great use of my gifts! We'll see.

As you can probably guess, after a lot of prayer, God did not put Mexico on my heart as "where I belong" for the summer. PLEASE continue to pray for those precious kids and all of my dear friends in Acapulco. Pray that the Lord uses other people to reach the kids at Casa Hogar and Sobre el Puente. Pray especially that the Lord gives wisdom to the leaders at Sobre el Puente as they deal with some hard things.

Valentine's Day is today. Good stuff! Unfortunately, both Josh and I are on duty--so it looks to be a quiet, separated night. He was a sweetheart and got me daisies (my favorite), but it looks like the real celebration of the day will be on Friday evening. That should be fun.

God is ever-faithful.

Self-Sufficient... Not Even Close

My suspicion, of late, is that God is working on tearing down any notion of self-sufficiency that I possess. I am a generally responsible student, and I like to be "ahead." This semester, however, every time I catch up and start working ahead, the Lord brings some hard event to stop me in my tracks. The range of progress-stoppers have included important conversations, sprained ankles that distract, sickness, etc.

I get it, though. As soon as I start getting ahead in school, I stop realizing my need for Jesus as much. If I don't feel stressed, I am not as apt to realize that it's only Jesus that sustains me.

So, the question is: how do I learn to not only intellectually know that I am not self-sufficient, but to emotionally feel my inadequacy? Perhaps this series of... little encouragements from the Lord... perhaps, that will instill this in me.

Jesus, I know I need you. I know I need Your Spirit to help me through every aspect of my life if I'm serious about living for You. I know, Father, that You sustain my every breath. Help me feel it.

A Taste of My Own Medicine

Irony, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, means, "incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result." Life is full of irony; my life, in particular, is full of irony.

I am often asked for advice. Why people come to me, I am not all together sure. I do not come with a very qualified resumé for advice-giving. I am only twenty and consequently, I have had a limited number of life experiences. At the same time, I do believe that the Lord gives me insight and wisdom into other people's questions on frequent occasion.

Here comes the irony: more often than not, I end up receiving my own advice back. For example, one of my big "things" is that we should not hold ourselves responsible for the things which God does not hold us responsible. For example, the spiritual well-being of a friend. Sometimes, because we love the struggling friend, we hold a burden so heavy that we are constantly worrying about them and losing sleep over their problems. However, the truth is, we cannot change anything. God is the changer of hearts and the fixer of spiritual problems. We cannot hold ourselves responsible for something we cannot fix. We can simply be faithful in the responsibilities God has given us: to love that person and be a good friend. So, I am to pray for my spiritually struggling friend, realizing that I can't "fix" their problems. Jesus is the healer, not I!

I wonder if I could save us all a lot of trouble by just frequently giving myself a dose of my own advice? :)

Update

Life has been pretty crazy for the past few weeks. I really can't get into a lot of details, but to say the least, I've seen my need for the Spirit and the strength of God more than ever - and my need for Jesus too.

In my reading for my Essentials of Instruction class tonight, this quote caught my attention, "Knowledge is not just intellectual, it is also an affair of the heart." (Bruinsma, Steppingstones to Curriculum, p. 27) All I could say was: YES. Think about it.

Letters to Yourself

One of the trends in Christian organizations and groups in the last decade has been the "letter to yourself." I've written many letters to myself about my expectations and fears as well as letters to myself about what I have learned. Recently, Mission to the World mailed me the letter I wrote myself when I returned from Mexico. This letter is all about learning. I thought I would share:

July 28, 2010

Whew! The summer in Mexico... it's kind of surreal that I just spent the summer in Mexico. It was really hard, but really awesome.
I learned that love is helping others toward God. I learned that persistent love has the victory. I learned that self-esteem must be based ONLY in Jesus. I learned that eh Word gives life and the Spirit gives courage. I learned that Jesus shines through a broken me. I learned that He is great.
I learned that I am a capable adult. I learned that missions is hard. I learned that I need Him more than I have yet grasped.
I saw my pride. I saw my weakness. But I saw that Jesus REALLY is in me--Christ in me.
I saw that all that matters i Jesus.
I want to live like this.
I don't want to settle for the average Christian life. I want all of my life to scream Jesus all of the time.

Are you walking worthy, April?

Relationships

This may not be of much interest to the rest of you, but I think I write more to get things off my mind than to cater to an audience. (I do appreciate having one, however... thanks!)

I was at Kelly's house the other day. The dear girl was skyping her new(ish) boyfriend, which I was in full support of. Meanwhile, I decided to read my Bible. So I read my Bible and spent some time praying. It was quite relaxing, and just all around good. Still, I finished and she was not back upstairs. My eye was caught by a book on her shelf on dating, "Boundaries in Dating" by Townsend. As a general rule, I am pretty skeptical about dating books, because I have yet to find a great one. I picked it up and started reading it. 103 pages in, my reaction: nice. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend a thorough read-through, a skim would certainly be worthwhile.

Townsend maintains that dating is a healthy and natural process. (The book was written largely in response to anti-dating movements.) He gives the reader a lot to chew on. According to Townsend, relationships are a place to look for/develop communication, trust, vulnerability, assertiveness, honesty, self-sacrifice, and listening. Those list of qualities really caught my attention. Yes. That is what I want to see in my relationship with Josh... and I do see a lot of it, so I am encouraged! Dr. Townsend stresses that your significant other should be both comforting to you when you fail, but they should also challenge you to do better. Common interests, goals, and values are key factors. One of the most important things to a relationship's potential success, though, is honesty.

Well, I'm still reading it... well, I will be if it's in Covenant's library. Critique/review to be edited and continued? :)

Hope you are all well!