Okay, Amanda was right at the Ladies' Meeting. Married people *do need to read this book along with singles
. It shows how God has fit us all together as a living church with married members and with single members and how we should appreciate our singles in exactly the places and roles where God has placed them.
They are not halves waiting to be part of a whole--they are brothers and sisters in Christ being fully used of Him *now.
Sam Allberry is a single British pastor. He is also a lot of fun to read.
His chapter on friendship is worth the price of the book alone. He reminds us that, historically, people did not put all of their friendship needs onto their spouses. As recently as C.S. Lewis, wise people wrote that every intimate friend brings out a different part of us so we need to have a few of them!
Ultimately, God sovereignly does what He does in a church, using us all together. I am glad we at Tab emphasize getting to know different people in our prayer times, single, married, older, younger. And I rejoice in a book like this to remind us it is God's good plan that we do life together.
The book especially reminded me to appreciate the graciousness of the 44-year-old Spanish-speaking single named after Jesus’ aunt (Elizabeth) who put Joey on his plane the other day, then texted me his picture.
As we texted all during the flight and after, I thought how she is not looking to be someone’s “unclaimed blessing” but is ministering mightily in the now to disabled adults who can live independently because of her calling. And she says she loves our family and is honored to serve us well.
Such Christlikeness . . . May I learn well from the godly singles around me.
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