Here's my attempt to start a conversation :-)
1) So what is your take on dreams? Not the kind you have at night while your sleeping, but the having desires and hopes kind. We always tell kids to dream big, but does that result in expectations in life, or following after your own plan? Just curious...
2) A part in Blue Like Jazz stuck out to me (I read chapters 7 and 8 yesterday and nine today) I'm trying to slow my reading pace down so I will get more out of it. I tend to blow through books without retaining what I read and that is really frusterating for me. In chapter 8 this conversation leads to a pretty intense thought:
"Here is a guy using Islamic verbiage to make himself look spiritual, and yet he really hasn't researched or subscribed to the faith as it presents itself. He's just using it. Raping it for his own pleasure."
"Why are you convicted about that?" I asked him. "I've never heard you talk about Islamic ideas that way."
"I know," Tony said. "But I do the same thing with Jesus." (Miller, Donald. "Blue Like Jazz." pg 93)
This really just hit me. I think that strong language does that, but it really made me think about how often I just use my faith for my own pleasure, for my own happiness, my own desire for some form of contentment.
How do YOU feel about this quote?
3) What's been a situation in your life where you have struggled with trusting God, and what have you learned through it?
1) So what is your take on dreams? Not the kind you have at night while your sleeping, but the having desires and hopes kind. We always tell kids to dream big, but does that result in expectations in life, or following after your own plan? Just curious...
2) A part in Blue Like Jazz stuck out to me (I read chapters 7 and 8 yesterday and nine today) I'm trying to slow my reading pace down so I will get more out of it. I tend to blow through books without retaining what I read and that is really frusterating for me. In chapter 8 this conversation leads to a pretty intense thought:
"Here is a guy using Islamic verbiage to make himself look spiritual, and yet he really hasn't researched or subscribed to the faith as it presents itself. He's just using it. Raping it for his own pleasure."
"Why are you convicted about that?" I asked him. "I've never heard you talk about Islamic ideas that way."
"I know," Tony said. "But I do the same thing with Jesus." (Miller, Donald. "Blue Like Jazz." pg 93)
This really just hit me. I think that strong language does that, but it really made me think about how often I just use my faith for my own pleasure, for my own happiness, my own desire for some form of contentment.
How do YOU feel about this quote?
3) What's been a situation in your life where you have struggled with trusting God, and what have you learned through it?
Posts
That part's highlighted in my book too. :)
(I guess I will continue the started conversation... :-)
I've been thinking a lot about the whole dream question. I had an amazing talk with Pastor Darin about dreams last week.
I'm trying to change my view of them... I guess I have a very cynical view of dreams at the moment. Here it is... Why dream? Because dreaming only gets your hopes up about something that might never happen. Wow. Seeing that in writing makes me sound like I'm lacking a lot of hope. So I guess I'm LEARNING to dream. I think I get scared to dream because I tend to hold too tightly to them, because when I want something, I want it.
Something Pastor Darin said that has stuck with me... "Sometimes it's not the dream that's wrong, it's just the details you have planned." <-or something to that effect. It just struck me.
Trusting in God... Okay, ready for the honest Amanda? I'm struggling with this. I'm refiguring out what my dreams are, and figuring out what God's plans are. But I really think that God gives us the passions and desires that we each have to be able to dream and use them for His glory.
I want to get married and have a family. Sometimes I hate the fact that God made me more mature for my age. I don't feel twenty. More like 25. I've had mad wedding/baby syndrome lately and I hate it (but secretly love it at the same time. :-) I want to settle down, but not. I want to travel, and minister to people, yet still have a sense of community. I want adventure and a sense of security with someone else. I love the Sweet Home Alabama quote, where the question is asked, "Why would ya want to marry me for?" "...So I can kiss you anytime I want." It was so cute. But I desire that intimacy, and not just the physical, but someone to share my life with. I love how Lisa always lovingly jokes that she has a license on Jesse. But it's so true. So I guess I struggle with admitting all of that, because it's something I want so badly, but I'd almost rather think in my head it will never happen just so I don't get my hopes up. But even though I'm constantly asking God to take these desires away because I currently feel like they complicate my life, I'm sure He gave them to me for a reason.
sigh... I'm such a girl. Stuck on love songs, and hoping that the words will become life for me and not just be words any longer. I need to trust Him with that. It's just that with today's generation of men (no offense guys, women are just as bad now too) and my past experiences, it just doesn't look good. A man that will love me, loves ministry and helping others, has similar interests, romantic, can make me laugh, and always seeks God first... that's a tall order. All things are possible with God though right?
hehe... okay enough talk about Love. I'm going to post about traveling :-)