Redeeming Love

Hello friends... happy hump day! I have lierally run out of things to do at work, so I figured this would be as good a time as any to update!

I just finished, for the 2nd time, the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Please if you havn't read it, please drop everything your doing (after u finish this post of course) and go buy it! It is one of the best books I have ever read. The premisis on the surface is about a young woman, Angel, in the mid 1800's who was sold into prostitution as a young child. She is living in a brothel basically in slavery. Michael, a farmer from a town near where she lives, comes into town one day to sell his produce and see's her. When he does, he realizes that this is the woman God has chosen for him to be his wife. He procedes to try and convince Angel that he is different from the other men she has known in her life and to leave with him. He finally gets her out of the brothel and marries her. The rest of the book centers around his struggles to get her to stay and trust and find the Lord. The book is such as amazing testament to God's overwhelming and never failing love for us. You compare the main characters relationship to that of God's love and devotion for the lost. No matter what you have done, are doing, believe or don't believe, God is always waiting for you to come to him, believe in him, and reach for him. He forgives all things! It is such an amazing read, if you do or have read it leave me a comment about your thoughts!

The book also brings up another subject that has been weighing on my mind lately... marriage. No I'm not getting married, in fact David and I aren't even talking about it. What I mean is the entire idea, and premises of marriage. Why do people get married and what is it all supposed to truly mean? How do you know when your ready to get married, and what does God say about it? I don't really know why it has entered my mind so heavily recently. I assume it has something to do with everyone I know getting married. Ok, not everyone but a lot of them. Here is what I do know...

I want to get married one day
I want a FIREPROOF marriage
I want to be my husbands world, and I want him to be mine
I don't want to get married until I know that its about a MARRIAGE, not a WEDDING!!

The rest of it though, is just so confusing. Redeeming Love, exemplifies the kind of marriage I want. Michael is so deeply in love with Angel, he prays for her, guides her, trusts her, and believes in her. Yes they argue, and yes its not always easy, but he never gives up on her. I want that so bad. I dont ever want to go through what my parents went through. I believe that human being ARE supposed to be monogamous. I don't know if I believe there is only one person for everyone, but I believe that God will lead you to someone he has chosen for you if you just trust and have faith in his timing and will. But how do you know when you have truly found this person? I believe it can be very difficult to separate your wants from God's will when it comes to relationships. When you feel so in love with someone, how can you distinguish if thats God's will or yours?

This book is also set in a much different time. It was easier, not as hurried, and much less complicated. You found someone, you fell in love, got married and stayed together. Divorce wasn't very popular, and although cheating has always existed, it wasn't as easily accomplished. Now we have cell phones, computers, iPads, txt messaging, e-mail, snail mail... you get the idea. How do you have an 1850's marriage in the 2010's?

I don't have the answers to all these questions... but I do know what I want eventually. I do know that if I just have faith, believe, and wait, that my prayers and desires will be answered one day in some fashion. It is hard though, and i think especially hard here in the South. Getting married is all anyone my age talks about and does. At 23, I feel behind the 8 ball because I'm not married, or engaged. I think here it is a status symbol, a special priveledge saved for the best and most beautiful southern belles and their southern gentlemen. The rest of us... who knows where we fall. But I have never been one to do something just because everyone else is doing it, and luckily I have someone who loves me just the way I am. We are in no hurry to take the plunge, and we know that it will come for both of us one day, whether its together or not. But I do know that when that day does come, I will marry the love of my life and best friend.

Much Love,
 -E