Sunday, November 1, 2009

A Woman and Her Relationships



I was drawn to this book when it was part of an advertisement for a "Girl's Night Out" event that was coming to Maranatha last Spring. It caught my attention initially, because of the pink cell phone, (something at the time, I was working with my husband to obtain). Then the title struck me as I was in a time of reflection, frustration and even disappointment with many of my relationships.

I ended up making the decision to go to the event at the last minute and this book was given to the first couple hundred ladies through the door. The event itself was surprising and is where I bought the book "Completely His" by Shannon Ethridge, which I have referred to in recent blogs.

Shannon's book took me on a journey of intimacy with Jesus. I became excited to pursue and be pursued by my First Love, yet, in the midst of my pursuit of Him, something else began to take place. He led me lovingly and gently, to a place of examining my other relationships and discovering some very difficult truths as to why some had not been as mutually fulfilling as I truly desired.

Through some very Divine direction, (using Maria to suggest Rosemary Flaaten's book as my next reading assignment), God drew me toward the next step of my journey. I hadn't read this book when I received it and had thought it was about intimacy with Jesus, so was quite happy to begin it and to take this new intimacy with Jesus to a greater depth.

I have to tell you, I had been seeing God sovereignly connect and draw me in the area of relationships, but could not make the connection between my pursuit of Jesus and His obvious desire to have me examine my earthly relationships. 
On the very day I opened my "cell phone" book, I was scheduled to meet with a friend and have a very real and possibly uncomfortable chat.

Within the very first chapter, I internally winced, thought about retreating, and finally went "Ah Ha! That's it"...over and over again.

Rosemary confirmed what Holy Spirit was revealing to me little by little for the past few weeks...
The depth of my Relationship with Him, will be in direct proportion to my ability to be in deep relationship with others.

I can't even begin to tell you in one blog how much God is impacting me and unveiling truth to me through this book. This woman understands me and how and why I process the way that I do. As I begin to grasp, then understand one truth, she moves deeper and the dots are connecting to reveal the whole picture so clearly.

I am only half way through the book...(it really must be chewed, swallowed, digested and savored slowly to allow God to do all that He is wanting to do); yet, the way that Holy Spirit is changing, healing and releasing me from some very old chains, is really quite mind boggling.

For once, I am forced to process through the Spirit's leading first and allow my intellect to catch up later, rather than to think about, process and understand prior to receiving. 
He is being that sovereign with me.

I will post more nuggets from this journey in future posts, but I have to tell you, if you have questioned or been unsatisfied with your earthly relationships as a woman...you may want to get a hold of this book, it may just change you and therefore your relationships forever.

I LOVE when God lines things up just the way I need them to be, before I even know I need them...He is so very trustworthy.

Be Blessed!
Jen


5 comments:

Shaun and Holly said...

Great revelations Jenny! I look forward to reading that book eventually.

I just posted something on my blog that I am sure you would love! Maybe you and the girls can made some...?

:D

Love,
H.

Shaun and Holly said...

made...should be: MAKE! :)

Anonymous said...

Absolutely fantastic! I have met Rosemary and now I have her coming to Kelowna this week to do an interview with Nancy Beach in a Gifted to Lead session. I am also going to do a recorded interview with her to post on our site at a later date. I will pass this testimony along to Rosemary.
Would it be OK if I quote a bit of this at the event? I will be promoting her book and she is doing a book signing for us.
SOO cool how God works!! I'm happy that God is helping you.

Jen said...

Thanks Cheryl, I would be honored and of course blogs are a pretty public forum anyway, so quote away. Honestly, this book is amazing....she could have written it for me, it hasn't been easy, but I am just thrilled to see God being so very sovereign and intimately interested in me to get this to me long before I even knew I needed it.
I'll be praying that God does the same for lots of unsuspecting ladies at your event this weekend.
Love you Lady!

Tamatha said...

Last night I found "Completely His" on your shelf...I am going to read it while you are away!:o)

Could I be put on your list of people to borrow this other book you are talking about when you are done it?:o)