Having a Mary Spirit by Joanna Weaver

Author:Joanna Weaver [Weaver, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2008-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

10

A Fearless Beauty

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 TIMOTHY 1:7, NKJV

Have you ever had God answer a prayer and not realize it? After you’d prayed for one thing, did He give you something entirely different? And only later did you realize He’d really given you both?

Part of my lifelong prayer for Christian perfection has involved having the quiet and gentle spirit Peter wrote about in 1 Peter 3:4. When I first shared this life goal with friends, their response was loud laughter and a few poorly disguised snickers. Because anyone who knows me well knows I’m not very gentle. And I’m definitely not quiet.

It isn’t because I haven’t tried. I really have! For years I’ve gone to social functions determined to be seen but not heard, only to come home beating myself up for my sanguine silliness. I’ve spent many restless nights overanalyzing conversations where I sounded much like I do in our home movies—obnoxious and loud. Driven to provide extensive commentary on every event in life.

In the natural, the quiet gene has little chance of swimming in my pool.

Perhaps that’s why I’ve always found Peter’s statement so appealing, so provocative. Something within me craves the kind of settled peace he describes.

And so I have continued to ask the Lord for a quiet and gentle spirit. For it not only appeals to me. It also pleases God.

GREAT WORTH TO GOD

When Peter wrote the letter that contains this verse, the church had been scattered by persecution to the far corners of the known world. Written from a pastor’s heart to his flock, this particular passage targets the husband-wife relationship. But I believe it holds rich truth for every woman in every stage of life. For in it is the key to lasting beauty and the holy makeover we all long for:

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