Beth Moore has done it again! Because I couldn’t have said it any better, I’m letting her say it again this week by reposting (with permission) her wonderful blog this week. Feel free to check out all of her posts by clicking here! I’m proud to call Beth friend but prouder to see God’s Word being proclaimed so powerfully through her. Be blessed as you read on . . .
A Valentine’s Post: I Believe and I Don’t
by Beth Moore, Living Proof Ministries
I believe in romance.
I believe in the love between a man and a woman.
I believe that love can be sustained for a lifetime.
I believe in falling back in love over and over.
I believe in making up.
I believe that good marriages are wed of soft hearts and hard heads: a tenderness to love and be loved and a tenacity too bone-headed to quit.
I believe that laughter lasts longer than sex.
I believe that many people marry people they do not love.
I believe that desperation gets confused with affection.
I believe that many couples divorce that could have made it.
I believe that God can resurrect hearts that are stone-cold dead and create love between a couple ex nihilo.
I believe that couples can put in their fifty years like a prison sentence with souls that have been divorced for decades. And that Jesus sees right through it.
I believe some fights are worth having.
I believe that laziness is the leading narcotic of romance.
I believe that neglect is a form of infidelity.
I believe in the power of repentance to jump start a dead heart.
I believe the most important synonym of the word love in a marriage is forgiveness. I believe in working it through, crying it through, even fighting it through, then I believe in putting it behind you. For keeps. Love resists the inundating urge to bring back up the old with every new offense.
I believe that getting godly counseling is an act of courage.
I believe in the immeasurable power of mutual respect.
I believe that cynicism about romance is as unhealthy as believing in fairy tales.
But I do not believe in teaching our little girls that their worth will be measured by the love of a man. Unless that man is Jesus.
I do not believe in staying silent in a culture that says girls are as valuable as they are desirable.
I do not believe it is helpful that our constant go-to compliment to a little girl is how pretty she is.
She is also smart. And strong. And thoughtful. And artistic. And creative. And well able.
I do not believe in perpetuating the myth of happily-ever-after in marriage. I believe in teaching our adolescents that we can have love-ever-after, devotion-ever-after, hope-ever-after, and faith-ever-after but only if we don’t faint-ever-after. We prepare soldiers for real war but leave young couples ill-prepared for real marriage. I don’t believe that realism has to remotely equal pessimism.
I do not believe in teaching our girls that men are gods or devils.
I do not believe in marrying a man who won’t date you.
I don’t believe in making love to a man who won’t kiss you.
For what any of this is worth.
One last thing in case you’re still reading.
I believe that great marriages are great but that a good marriage can also be good. Amid the blur of magazine headlines and blog articles about how to have a great romance, a great marriage, great sex, great kids, great families, great jobs, great relationships, and fabulously great futures with great impact, save a little room in your heart to believe that good can also be good.
Because life’s just not always great.
But, man, it can be good.
Beth Moore, founder of Living Proof Ministries, has written numerous books and Bible studies, including Breaking Free, Believing God, The Patriarchs and most recently, James: Mercy Triumphs that have been read by women of all ages, races, and denominations. Through the years, American missionaries and expatriates have taken the Bible studies overseas, resulting in Beth Moore Bible study groups popping up all over the world. Beth’s Living Proof Live conferences have taken her to all fifty states since the ministry’s beginning in 1994. God has graciously given Beth the opportunity to serve the body of Christ in many different countries, including Ireland, England, Singapore, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, India, Angola, Kenya, and South Africa. With great joy, she began a radio ministry in 2004 called Living Proof with Beth Moore hosted on OnePlace.com. Also, each Wednesday, Beth can be seen teaching Bible study on the television program “Life Today with James and Betty Robison.” Ever the storyteller, Beth is known to pepper her teaching with stories and poems written from the perspective of pertinent characters. She communicates with great energy, passion, humor, warmth, and grace.
Are you ready to sing along with Steve again? Some of you have voiced how much you loved the Facebook songs we used to sing together. Be watching in future days for the return of the Facebook sing-a-longs! We’ll post them here as well for future reference. In the meantime, you may want to look back at previous songs and refresh your memory! Click the graphic below for complete listing of previously-published songs and hymns! Enjoy!