I finished Practical Theology for Women late last night. I committed to reading it with 2 friends from church. We met for lunch today to discuss some of what we learned from it.
Wendy Alsup broke her book into 3 parts. The first section has several chapters on faith. The second part was discussing the character of God, and the last section dealt with communicating with God (studying His Word, the Spirit's role and prayer). In her chapter titled, "What is Faith," I love what she writes to us as believers for when we face a loss or a struggle.
Wendy writes: "He doesn't ask the same things of any two people, and the struggles he allows into your life will be intensely personal. But when they come, ask yourself, "What is it I believe about God?" Do you believe that he is good? Do you believe his promise to work hard things for good in your life? Do your trust that he's acting consistently with his claims of love for you? Simply put, do you believe him? And in that dark moment, are you going to let your belief in his goodness or your despair over your struggle lead you? Truly, those who lose their lives in the arms of God's grace are the ones who finally see what true living really is."
I love those questions that she poses there. I had a favorite moment in each of the 3 sections of this book. I spent several days thinking about what she wrote about Christ in Philippians 2. Her exhortation about the Holy Spirit near the end of the book was another highlight for me.
This book was a wonderful read and gave my friends and I much to discuss. I love theological discussions and books that have a deeper level of theology. Like I mentioned, I have only so much time to read and it is precious to me. I try not to waste that time, so I choose what I read carefully. I would have shied away from this if it was self-help or shallow. On the contrary, it dealt with core truths in our Christian faith and in a very sincere, encouraging way for women. That is what I was hoping it would do.
When it comes to reading something that really challenges me, I have a few things I read every few years because they always impact my life so much. I love reading a sermon by C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory. I also love A.W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy. Practical Theology for Women reminded me of what I love in these two writings. I love reading these things because they make me so hungry to read more of God's Word and remind me of all that He has done for me.
1 comments:
ok - your post reminded me that I never finished reading this book and need to! Thanks for the summary though just in case I don't get to it as quick as I would like :-)
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