An Athlete of Faith

         

The first thing that I have learned for this week's discussion is about the life of Ignatius of Antioch. He was called as the 'true athlete of faith'. He became an apostle bishop and martyr. He selflessly devoted his life to God. In fact, his body was fed to the beast because of his tremendous faith and it became the cause of his death. He really had a passionate love of sacrifice and a devotion to his duty to glorify God no matter what it takes. The second thing that added to my stock of knowledge is about the fact that church history can make us humble and grateful. Church history is a record of frailty and failures. It showed to us that God has been patient with us and faithful to His promises. Church history, as well, can disclose the things God has done for His people regardless of its incompleteness yet we can still somehow be filled with gratitude for God's faithfulness to get us here in this present time despite the wrath of the past. God has been always with us and would never ever leave us behind. He is always both the Good Man and Great God of all time.

What I need to change in the way I think is that with or without anyone besides me, I have nothing to fear when circumstance comes because God is with me. I remembered a statement from the book entitled 'When Women Walk Alone' that says, "A true test to find a woman's strength is when she is alone". It simply means that marriage is not everything but God is. People may judge a single lady yet they don't know that she has a Great Invisible Partner and that is no other than God. The book does not encourage singleness yet it motivates every woman to stay focus to God and not to be distracted by anything or anybody else here on this temporal earth. Marriage is okay but then if it makes you stay away from God then it is good for nothing. A woman should stay in love with Jesus regardless of her relationship status in life. Personally speaking, I really had a bad intention before why I wanted to marry and that was I don't like to be alone and to be bored to death in the future because I am a spinster and childless. That was a really selfish motivation but then I have realized that marriage is not about me. It's about God. It's not about my joy but His. It's not about my welfare but for God alone.

My first step to put this into practice is to pray unceasingly. I will pray specifically to God everyday that my love for Him will grow as the days, months, or years pass by. Secondly, I will make a commitment to God that whether I am single or not, I will always be loyal to make Him as the apple of my eye now and forever. The third step to take is to wait for the man God wants for me to be my lifetime partner (if He is willing) for a full-time service to the ministry He wants to entrust to both of us. But then if God wills that I will be single I will still wait that God will give me a woman, a friend or a sister in Christ or a group of people with whom I can serve God more effectively until the last day of my breath. Lastly, I will always pray to God that He will give me a submissive and willing heart to follow His will and trust His heart even though I may not understand. It's because I believe that it's all part of God's greater plan.