Excited about a book!

I had a friend who has followed my journeys and frustrations for several years now. She found herself in a similar situation and found an amazing book: When Life and Beliefs Collide: Knowing God Makes a Difference by Carolyn Custis James. I have just started it and am so excited to see what God reveals through this faithful women's words!

In the introduction she explains how the book came to be. It is mainly because she was struggling as I have, and I believe many others if they were honest have, with what you do when your reality doesn't line up with your theology! There are things I know in my head because I do believe that God is good, He knows and wants what is best for me. But knowing that in my head and making it mesh with the things in my life leave me perplexed many times. I know it's because I don't truly know the character of God! I know bits and pieces, but if I truly understood and knew Him like He longs for me to know Him, then I wouldn't struggle near as much.

That is basically the point of Ms. James. She had a theology professor make a statement that there are no great women theologians. That challenged Ms. James and she went on a search....first within herself. I love the analogy she uses of Mary vs Martha! How many of you have said you were one or the other? I know I have caught myself doing that. But the reality is, God wants us to be BOTH! Have you ever heard that preached before? I really haven't. Cynthia calls these categories the "women who think" (Marys) and "women who serve" (Marthas). This is what she says about our bend to place our selves in one or the other categories: "The distinction is unfortunate, for it leads women to conclude that these two spheres of life are disconnected and incompatible instead of inseparably intertwined and that theology has not put in the living of our lives." Wow! So true!!! And I believe the church of America makes this distinction like none other I have seen! And here is where I can so relate with her! "Doctrinal statements may keep us orthodox, but they don't seem to matter much when our families are falling apart and we feel hopeless." And here are a few other quotes that I can totally relate with and make me want to sit and read this whole book today!....

• "It seems to me that life's struggles are the shortest route to a deep appreciation of our need to know God better."
• "We have lived too long with a false dichotomy where we must choose between Mary and Martha. Jesus flatly rejects these categories. He calls us to be a composite of the two: women who take time to know him better and whose theology informs and emboldens their ministries to others."
• "Thinking about God's sovereignty is one thing. Connecting it with a painful personal crisis is quite a different matter...It is in the trenches that we learn it is never enough to know about God in our heads. We must know him in our hearts."
• "The ability to articulate and debate theological ideas, even from a pulpit, doesn't prove you are theologian any more than spouting facts about the United States president means you are his personal friend." - this is my favorite!!

If you are struggling through a circumstance or reality that leaves you questioning God's character or has you trying to align what you know with what you feel, I would encourage you to pick this up! We can take this journey together! Leave me a comment if you are going to be reading it and we can chat about it together! ...and thank you Priscilla for recommending it to me! I can't wait to see what God teaches me through these pages!