I committed my life to Jesus while reading Catherine Marshall’s “Beyond Ourselves,” and it remains a special book for me. I would love to write something so helpful to others before I die!

Hi LA, It’s a spiritual autobiography, about how God progressively guided her into her destiny as a healer, and writer.
I am constantly asking for direction because I lack the same wisdom God does. For me, sometimes the “orders” (more like suggestions) come when I am desperate. For instance,the directive to blog, when I was stuck, not knowing what creative work to do. Or the directive to start the particular business I own when I needed a non-exhausting way to make money. Some directives are out of the blue, like “apply to Oxford.”
Because I believe God loves me, and is wiser than I am myself, I am always listening for the sealed orders for the day, week and month. ( I usually like them, and they for my good. Sometimes, I just sigh, and obey, though!)

Indeed. I like the idea that there are always sealed orders, even when we feel old, infirm, “on the shelf,” so to say. “So, Lord, what are my sealed orders for today?” It’s a question that adds excitement for the day.

Thank you, Andy. I have been writing more in my journal rather than online, but your kind comment made me glad that I put it online!

Indeed! Thanks, Barbara!

Bless you

At first blush, though, this book seems to defy all sense of Free Will. If God has sealed orders for us, that means He’s directing and controlling and we have no Free Will. One either has it or doesn’t, we can’t sometimes have it and sometimes not. Is that the gist of this book?

Here is why these kinds of ideas trouble me. The value of our love of God comes from the fact that it’s freely given, not dictated by some pre-destined set of circumstances ordained by God to test us or trip us up. I cannot believe in a God who purposely kills relatives, friends, etc. as a means to test our love. Nor can I believe in a God that allows some bad things to happen, but stops other bad things from happening because someone prayed just hard enough (by the way, how much is that? How much sincere prayer needs to happen to keep our sibling from dying of cancer or our spouse from alcoholism?). Bad things happen…God teaches us how to make good choices and helps us find forgiveness, compassion and love in the face of bad things.

For me, God is there to show us a better way to live, He calls us to lead a life of grace, not trapped in an endless cycle of waiting to see what He has “planned” for us. Instead of making better choices, oftentimes folks who believe in this kind of pre-ordination think, “oh, well, maybe God has something better planned for me around the next corner”. Rather, they can be working to understand their world better and making more informed choices that mirror God rather than abdicate choices to some pre-arranged plan.

This book is on my list of stuff to read soon. I’m hoping it’s about healing through making more Godly choices rather than praying harder for God to keep bad things from happening to us.