How 'this' Single Christian girl thrives in the world
Just a few. WordPress has put in new templates which were really nice. And just a few days ago, I discovered I can actually change the default header and do a bit of CSS with this.
The changes are very minor but it makes a big difference already.
Ahh… and so are those changes in my life!
I’m talking about the latest review of ‘Sex and the City’ on Christianity Today and the commentaries elsewhere such as that on Boundless and other Christian blogs.
My blog included. I had my own view and my own opinion. What prompted me to write another article on this though is that I think the debate has come too sour that one side is yelling, “Fundamentalist!” and the other side is yelling, “Pharisee!”
And here we are saying that we are Christians? Who are we really kidding?
Yes, I did watch the movie. (Hold on to the next gasp because I’m going to say….)
I saw it with other Christian girl friends as well. (Exhale.)
Why I saw it and why I’m putting in a public review of the movie will be the subject of this next post. Come and stick around further to know why.
Prompted by a review
Recently, I have come around this article in Boundless, which then prompted me to find out whether or not it’s true that Christianity Today had a positive review of Sex and the City. I found the review to be quite disturbing. Here’s a Christian girl reviewing a movie that she just said had a “threesome, a naked man in a shower, some steamy makeup sex” mostly served up an endorsement of this same movie as, “But it was refreshing to have a single woman’s sexuality acknowledged. In stark contrast, the last time anyone in a Christian setting spoke to the fact that I’m a sexual human being was in a college church group, where I was blithely instructed that “true love waits.” Well, 15 years later, it’s still waiting. And it ain’t so blithely simple.”
Now that is just plain weird.
The whole world already expects Christians NOT to endorse anything with graphic and detailed scenes of “steamy makeup sex” yet here comes a review saying that well… it’s not quite ok but it is ok.
I don’t think that I should quote anything from the Bible stating why we shouldn’t think Sex and the City is such a great basis for me regarding my sexuality. That thought has been quite obvious to the world so all Christians know why. I also don’t want to go further into details of the review. Let me just say I completely disagree with it. Here’s my own review then.
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love. — 1 Cor. 16:13-14
I wish I had a success story or a “praise report” to tell. That would have been a good post to accent my blog… a chip off my successful Christian life. The reason was that when I started this blog, I wanted to tell the world what salt and light living was — that it wasn’t stoned, boring and tedious. That you can actually “have it all.”
But right now, things don’t seem as rosy as I had wanted it.
Here’s a frank post (and probably one of the posts you’ll hear as “negative” in this blog): The time that I mind the most about being single is when couples gather around me and I’m left to talk to myself.
I’m saying this at the risk of sounding bitter. I’m just honest. The truth is I’m very happy for all my “coupled” friends and would be there to plan all their weddings since my life is short of becoming Katherine Heigl’s movie 28 Dresses.
But when you’re with two or more couples where they start talking about the ‘future’ and then they start talking to themselves and commence on all kinds of public displays of affection, what exactly can you do right? It’s not like you’re there to disrupt their happiness but you’re kind of left without any activity to do by your lonesome.
So I’m saying it now: being fifth wheel isn’t a good thing. Not even in the girl power / glamazon era. I mind it. I’m sure other girls mind it. It shouldn’t be left unaddressed.
So you’ve asked and received. You sought and found. You got a breakthrough. The first thing you ought to do is praise God and thank Him immensely for how else would you get what you got if you hadn’t asked or sought, right? (This is assuming that you of course, asked for the right thing!)
God is a great God. He answers prayer. He gives us the desires of our heart. (And by desires, that means that these are aligned to His will. And whatever His will is, it’s all good anyway. It’s not something bad or will produce calamity. He said that in Jeremiah 29:11 which seals the deal.)
The thing is… what if you now got it? A husband that you’ve waited for. A great job that is in line with your dreams and talents. A promotion.
When you do realize later on that husbands aren’t perfect because some snore. All jobs have problems and you realize that when a jealous co-worker blocks your well-meaning plans. And a promotion suddenly shows the signs of pressure that just wearies you down. What now?
Do you love to exercise? I usually don’t, but I have to.
So I get my butt up and commit to walk for in place for thirty minutes. This will be a minor workout and this will be for maintenance. It’s not hard. I can do it!!
I look at the clock and saw that I started at one o’clock. That means I will then end at 1:30. That’s fine. I start walking.
Five minutes later, I felt like I’ve done an achievement so I keep going. On the tenth minute, I pat myself in the back and saw that I only have twenty minutes more. That’s great! Things are getting better as I mark myself for every five minute milestone.
That was until I reached the twenty-fifth minute. 1:25. Gosh. Those are the longest five minutes of my life till it hits 1:30 and then I’m over! I picture myself sitting on the couch sipping nice cold juice for all my efforts but realize that there won’t be any rewards yet. It’s just 1:26.
And my feet are just screaming in pain. My mind is making a big deal about the time right now. 1:27, the clock says. It’s just 3 more minutes. Why not get that mango juice now?
I heard Pastor Mark Turner say this, “Do you know how to laugh at yourself?”
Huge silence. Everyone was thinking.
He then later goes, “Why not? Somebody is!”
I think I’ll have that as a resolution — to laugh at myself.
I really don’t. I beat up myself today for doing and saying things that are embarrassing… or at least, not flattering. How do other people do it? Like they can’t seem to do anything wrong.
I do know that I’m not perfect but there’s that urge, you know… to at least appear to be one. But then, me talking about it like this makes me all the more cynical instead of perfect.
So I’ll try my best to laugh at myself. I’ll try not to beat myself up for all the mistakes and just go through life knowing that I have nothing to regret.
I’ve started the year with what I think was nothing. But that’s just what I thought.
If you’ve been following what I’ve written so far, I’ve resigned from a job after much prayer. Until now, I still haven’t been in one so I thought… gosh, I’ll start the year with nothing. No job, no business, no love life, nothing to look forward to. And then, I got this business card out of my pocket and began calling this company to thank them for considering me for the job but I had to decline their job offer.
It was my fourth job offer. I turned it down. I didn’t start with exactly nothing. I had some things, but they weren’t what I had wanted and prayed for.
You see, before everything else, I prayed and sought wisdom for my resignation. I also prayed and sought wisdom for this next job. I had then resolved that I would not just go for a job because of the money or because it was available. I would go for it because there was revelation for it and that my heart speaks for it. I would follow my heart and go for something that I love.
To other people, it seems pretty basic. Of course, why not go for a job you love, right? Well… I don’t know… I must’ve been complicated.
Anyway, this time, I wanted to pursue that part. Everyone who’s dear to me and who’s after my welfare, like my family and friends, supported that move. The hard part is the actual doing, you know. The faith part. The patience part.
For this one, I go back to the ever famous Psalm 23.
The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake. — Psalm 23: 1-3, NKJV
I took the verse as it is. (Shouldn’t everyone, right?) God will lead me to green pastures and still waters. And now that’s a good shepherd. That doesn’t mean not-so green pastures and so-so waters, right? It means green pastures and still waters. That means the really nice place a sheep like me would want to graze on! It means the best! It means God will lead me to great places and I would love to be there!
Here’s another verse:
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. – Psalm 37: 4,6
It’s all so wonderful to hear. God will give us the desires of our heart when they’re aligned to His will. Such a wonderful thing to say and wonderful idea ultimately.
That’s the problem, I guess. I thought of it as an idea. Just nice things to hear. I use it to encourage me and it does.
And I know my problem. I still feel down because I thought the Bible was only there to be heard. It’s not a self-help book. God had written it. God is with it. The only thing that is required of me is to believe it before and not after.
I’m going on a limb now and say that I am believing that the words in those Psalms are not just words to encourage me. I believe there’s a God behind all that who’s working on it.
Specifically, I believe that God will send me to a great job that challenges me (specifically marketing, marketing communications, or business development in technology), in a great accessible location to where I live, with a great boss who can mentor, in a big established company with a vision, with great peers at work who I’ll have fun working with and one that offers international experience (traveling). And I also believe I’ll get it this month.
The list is specific and long but God is the good shepherd who leads me to green pastures and still waters — the best place I would love to graze in, the best place I’d be able to thrive for His glory! Besides, all things in that list are good and beneficial… even sounds logical to any career-driven non-Christian… so why can’t I ask for it when God can give it?
I also believe that I’ll find love… or better yet, love finds me this year. As in this year, not only will I meet him but he’ll also make the move to further our relationship. And you know, he’s a man who’s all that because He’s a man after God’s own heart.
I’ll just have to wait and be patient. That’s the part that’s really challenging, you know. I realize that I am more impatient during the last few minutes of things before I even get it. For example, I get more impatient on my last 2 minutes of exercise than on my first 10 minutes because I already want it to end NOW! I get more impatient the day before the big party than five days before because I want the party to start now.
If I listened to my impatience, it’d be more frustrating to just quit because I’m just literally few minutes away from my breakthrough. I think it’s true with life. We’re all getting there because God is already working. We just have to have faith on the last few seconds of His timing so that it’ll be perfect.
I haven’t gotten my breakthrough yet but I know my God is great. It’s coming in a few more seconds.
Do you believe for something this year? Ask God and believe it.
“But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” – Mark 9: 22-23
Someone gave a me a lost post asking if I had wondered… back on my post on “Does God Exist - The Atheist Deal.”
Below is my answer:
