I write and speak on topics of practical theology, and my first book, Teach Us to Want , has just re

You are here: Home / Desire / Found Wanting: Bronwyn Lea, “The bedding sets prayers of my youth were filled with desire.” Found Wanting: Bronwyn Lea, “The prayers bedding sets of my youth were filled with desire.”
During Jesus earthly ministry, it was not uncommon for him to approach the sick and sin-sick with this question: What do you want? In John 5, he speaks with a man lying next to the healing waters of Bethesda, a man who has been an invalid for 38 years.
I m grateful for those willing to share their stories of desire here. I’m neither applauding nor condemning their stories: rather, I am amplifying their desires – and reminding each of us that to be human is to want. In my book , Teach Us to Want, I claim that:
Desire takes shape in the particularities of our lives. We cannot excerpt desire from the anthology of our stories. Our desires bedding sets say something about us who we have been, who we are and who we are becoming. They tell a part of the story that God is telling through us, even the beautiful and complicated story of being human and becoming holy.
To catch up on the series, read these featured stories: Amy Chaney, “I didn’t want to be a coach’s wife.” Beth Bruno, “I’ve wanted beauty.” Wendy Stringer, “I didn’t want to move to suburbia.” Steve Burks, “I’ve wanted to produce entertainment.” Faydra Stratton, “I bedding sets didn’t want a child with Fragile X.” Brook Seekins, bedding sets “I never wanted to be a missionary in Africa.” Sarah Van Beveren, “I have always wanted to be strong.” Holly Pennington, “I didn’t want to find out what I wanted.” Larry Shallenberger, “I wanted to know what I wanted.” Hannah Anderson, “I didn’t want – because I couldn’t afford to.” Megan Hill, “I want your blessing.”
The prayers of my adulthood still carry echoes of my youth. In truth: I still pray about men, opportunities and friendships. However, I find that life as a mom and friend in a sin-soaked world is leading bedding sets me to pray a host of different prayers of desire: Please, I want it to be better; let it not hurt anymore.
I remember clearly the first tsunami of pain, which made me pray that prayer most fervently. Our family was devastated by violent crime, and we had no answers, no balm. Instead we had questions, the most oppressive bedding sets of which was this: Why would a good God let this happen?
That particular suffering challenged my faith significantly, but even in the absence of finding intellectually satisfying answers to my heartbroken questions, I still found myself drawing closer to God rather than pulling away from him.
Again and again I was drawn back to John 6, where the disciples challenge Jesus with his teaching, saying, This is hard to accept! Jesus challenged them in reply: bedding sets Will you leave me also? Peter s reply rang in my ears for weeks: To whom else shall we go?
In the wake of our trauma, I considered my options: I could deny there was a God, (not an option); I could choose bedding sets Islam (but Allah seemed so capricious) or Hinduism (but I wasn t persuaded, and the pictures gave me the creeps.) It was Buddhism, though, which finally pointed me back to Christianity.
The four noble truths of Buddhism teach: All is suffering (dukkha), and Suffering is caused by desire. If one can eliminate desire, one can eliminate suffering. bedding sets Finally, the Noble Eight-fold Path can eliminate bedding sets desire.
I needed someone to say that the suffering was wrong. I needed to know that longing for wholeness was good. I needed someone to say that good was, in fact, good; and that evil was truly evil . I needed to know that my desire for things to be right was not a denial of my truest spiritual self, but in fact a deep expression of my truest spiritual self.
In Jesus, I found someone who did just that. He wept over death. He set his face towards the things he wanted to accomplish. He grieved over the bad, and gave his own life for the joy set before him . Someone who acknowledged and affirmed that both my desires for joy and relationship and my desires for pain and suffering to end were good things. And more than that, they were things he desired for us too.
Bronwyn Lea loves Jesus, writing, ice-cream and the sound of children laughing. bedding sets She writes about the holy and hilarious things in life at bronlea.com , where she also hosts a faith and relationship advice column. Find her there, or say hi on Facebook or Twitter @bronleatweets .
I write and speak on topics of practical theology, and my first book, Teach Us to Want , has just recently released with IVP. I m also a wife and mother of five and currently serve on staff at Grace Toronto Church. If you re new, catch up on my story here.
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