I am in the midst of three books [if I don't count my financial summer read, The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton] each about ownership of faith and love.
One of these books, Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break by Kelly Minter, is a bible study focusing on Nehemiah's obedience to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. God blessed his journey and soon Israelites young and old, priest and servant began rebuilding the broken wall, each taking ownership of a section of the wall they had a vested interest in.
The second book, Love Does by Bob Goff, is a collection of stories about faith that is "simple and real". As Bob puts it, "It's best lived when it's owned." The people Bob shares memories of live love; they don't ponder over love, they do love. He talks about life as "whimsy", something you have to fully experience to fully know.
The third book is the well-known The Love Dare by the Kendrick brothers from the movie "Fireproof". As the back cover states, "The Love Dare is a 40-day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love".
Let me automatically clear the air. I'm not married. I believe God is going to use The World Race to refine my gifts, open my heart and prepare me to become the Godly women my future husband deserves: gentle in spirit, holy, blameless, humble, kind, patient, forgiving, encouraging, joyful, respectful…and so much more.
In the meantime, I still want to do the dare…on God. The fact that God calls us to love others unconditionally is my first push to challenge myself to love God unconditionally, to take ownership of my faith and take time to understand all of who God is, how much He respects me and how much He expects of me. I've spent years settling for so much less and in turn have given less.
God had called me to open my heart, love much, trust Him, and live life fully because I was created to love, created to be loved and I will no longer settle for less than His unconditional, blameless, joyful love for me.
I'm taking ownership.
