It's Not About Him

I discovered something interesting the other night. Jesse and I took these quizzes designed to tell you how strong your marriage is (we're good), and one of the first questions was: Can you name your spouse's best friend(s)? As I pondered what Jesse would answer for me, I wondered about what the answer to that question was myself. Jesse is one of my best friends, as is my mom, but there are things that I can't always talk to them about. And I realized that, as cheesy as this sounds, God has become my best friend. Through the last few difficult months, He has used all of the pain and hurt to pull me closer to Him, and now it's become natural for me to turn to Him with everything going on in my life. I cry and even yell when I'm upset, and when I'm happy and feeling blessed, I offer up thanks to the One who granted it. If I look over my journal from the summer, I can see considerable changes in the way that I pray as well as the answers I receive. Passionate Prayer by Catherine Martin truly did revolutionize my prayer life. It made my prayers deeply personal, without construct or formality. When the Good News Gets Even Better by Neb Hayden had an impact as well at helping me see Jesus as more human and more divine. But the real credit goes to God for letting me feel His presence and answering my prayers, sometimes even before I could breathe them.

I hadn't made "make God my best friend" as a goal, but I am making a new one: become God's friend. I'm reading about the women of Genesis right now in Live Relationally by Lenya Heitzig and Penny Rose, and while the lessons are focused on the women, I can't help but read the stories of Enoch, Noah, and Abraham who walked with God and were considered His friends. Each was known for their obedience; so that's what this disobedient, independent rebel is working on. I will only achieve it through the help of my best friend.

It's Not About Him by Michelle Sutton is the second book in the Second Glances series. Susie Ziglar is trying to make the best of the horrific situation she's found herself in. After passing out drunk at a party, she was raped and ended up pregnant. While at first she was determined to abort the baby, she instead ending up giving her life to God and decided to put the baby up for adoption. She just wants to do what's right for a change, and that means keeping her distance from Jeff, despite his insistence that he loves her and wants to marry her. Jeff also recently gave up his hard-partying ways and turned to God, and now he wants to make a life with the beautiful woman Susie has become. Sutton depiction of a woman's decision to put her child up for adoption with exquisite attention to detail: Susie's gut-wrenching pain, occasional worries that she made the wrong decision, and fierce determination to do what's right for her child are brilliantly rendered. Susie and Jeff's romance happens in stutters and leaps and huge steps backwards, making it realistic and sweet. Sutton has a special talent for dialogue; she doesn't keep it squeaky clean, but keeps it real. I could easily hear the characters talking to each other. She also portrays well the struggle that men have with the temptation women present with revealing clothing. It's a gritty, realistic view of twenty-somethings, but with a message of hope.

I'm including a few more pictures that I took this week. We have two farms with horses on our road, and they make for some beautiful shots.