Olivia W > Recent Status Updates

The author is contemplating joining a monastery in the Middle East. It's a shock to visit home in Texas and see all the things she would forego if she took vows. She details the strange-ness of talking about mundane things when she has just left a war-torn region.

"Stephanie, it's true that someone who chooses to be a nun only because they feel they cannot be happy being married has no religious calling,"

I'm reading the "expanded edition" which has excellent addendums! I wish Rosaria's two letters at the end were instead put at the beginning of the book: a letter to the LGBT reader and a letter to someone whose loved one has just come out.

"John 3:16 standing alone and without the theology of care offered in John 3:17 makes it harder to interpret."

Paraphrase: In reference to Hebrews 4:15-16, wallowing in pity can keep us back from going boldly to the throne of grace.

"This is something I would never say in a lecture or a presentation.... But, at a certain point, science fails. Questions become guesses, become philosophical ideas about how something should probably, maybe, be."
Science and the analysis of data is wonderful but it cannot tell us *why* we are here. On the other hand, the author also talks about how religion has its limits and leaves her unsatisfied.

"At times, my life now feels so at odds with the religious teachings of my childhood.. a neuroscientist who has at times given herself...to equating the essence that psychologists call the mind, that Christians call the soul, with the workings of the brain. I am looking for new names for old feelings. My soul is still my soul, even if I rarely call it that." Page 75

Food for thought: The root sin is pride.
God may not change your feelings until after you obey.
A life commitment to Christ "is not merely a philosophical shift ", not a one-step process. It is "arduous and intense."

Fireworks! Horse races! Weekly town socials! Laura and her family are taking quite well to life in town. True to the times, there is some discomfiting sexism ("A woman must keep her voice low") and racism (literal blackface). Also, the Ingalls family is infuriating when they shame their children for expressing sadness or anger. But still, I'm enjoying the fast pace of life in this one! So very fun.

Disturbing. An adjective I rarely use to describe the books I read. This book had better end with a drop of hope and happiness or else I'm suing everyone who wrote a 5 star review.

How wholesome

And so the mystery commences!
Re-reading this has been lovely so far.

"Jamie did some more thinking.. He still thought Death, but at least he had a manlier thought in facing it. And when he thought Life, he did not think of himself, or upbraid his government, or pity other wounded men. He thought merely of that one thing he might possibly do and what it might possibly be that would give him some justification, when he faced his Maker, for the spending of his latter days."

Got too invested and went further than my book club leader told me to. I'm hooked!

"What I am confident about is... Jesus wants us to understand the human heart as soil and think of it the way a farmer might. On the contrary, the modern era, with its emphasis on efficiency and repetition, has led us to view even discipleship through a lens of the factory model. But people are gardens, not factories." In reference to the parable of the seed and soils

Mentions Hebrews 5:14 (the importance of applying Scriptures, practicing Scripture) and Matthew 25:40- perhaps the doubters and skeptics are "the least of these" in society.

Preston talks about the power of investing in friendship even when you don't know if someone will end up following Jesus. He is describing unconditional love in the context of friendship when one party is deconstructing or doubting. This is real unconditional love.

"Not only will reaching the doubter compromise your reputation, you may never see them decide to follow Jesus. Remember Judas? He received an invitation to the table even though Jesus knew how Judas's story was going to end... To be like Jesus to the doubter, it is helpful to remember the daily invitation he offers to each one of us..."

Please step up the pace, Mr. Lewis!