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You can order these highly recommended books from amazon.com right from here - just click on the title:
Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control
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Review
In Passion and Purity, Elisabeth Elliot tells the story of her relationship with
Jim from start to finish. She uses her story and letters between her and Jim to
point out examples of what it means to let your love life fall under God's
control. The main message throughout the book is that God needs to be the center
of your life, and then everything else, such as your love life, will fall into
place the way God planned it to.
Elisabeth was a senior in college when she felt called by God to be a Missionary. Although her life seemed to be going pretty smoothly, she faced an issue that was very hard for her, as it is hard for most women. The issue was singleness. Elisabeth didn't want to live the rest of her life alone. But instead of panicking about it, Elisabeth turned it over to the Lord. She knew that He would do what's best for her, and she trusted Him.
Soon Jim came into her life, and it made her longing even harder to bear, Because she was attracted to Jim from the beginning. Soon, however, he returned the interest, and they would occasionally go on a date. Elisabeth writes down her emotions during this time in her journal, which she shares in her book. It seems like things would have gone smoothly for them, but they didn't. Jim was also called to be a missionary, but he had also made a commitment to go single, until God told him otherwise. Although it hurt him greatly to not marry Elisabeth, he placed his commitment to God above his feelings for Elisabeth.
So Elisabeth and Jim went their separate ways for a while, even thinking it best not to communicate at all for a time. These times were very hard for both of them, but they kept looking to God for strength, and He gave it to them.
Finally God made it clear to Jim that the time was right to ask Elisabeth to marry him. They were both headed to Ecuador. So after much turmoil, prayer, and longing, Jim and Elisabeth were finally married. And Elisabeth made it clear that the wait was more than worth it.
I learned a lot from this book, mostly the importance of learning to wait on God and trust His timing. He has everything planned out beautifully, and I need to trust Him with my future and not try to handle it myself. When I do meet the man I'm going to marry, I'm sure that it will be much more meaningful than if I had "tried out" lots of other guys first.
I recommend this book to all single men and women who long to be married. It
will help you to be patient, and yet use the time being single for God's glory.
It is a great encouragement, because it shows how meaningful a relationship can
be if God is in the center. God has each person's future planned out beautifully
and perfectly.
--Susan Williams
Editorial Review
Elisabeth Elliot's story centers around one pivotal question: "Does
God want everything?" Her emphatic answer--"Yes"--is what makes Passion
and Purity the foremost Christian book on dating ever written. Based on
stories, journal entries, and letters chronicling her own five-year courtship
with Jim Elliot, she gives frank advice, scriptural directives, and
compassionate examples of what it means to follow Christ in the midst of
heartache and impatience. The perfect antidote for those who flounder in the
thinking that "the Bible doesn't say anything about dating," Elliot's
short chapters are filled with nuggets of wisdom that spell out exactly the
opposite. "Until the will and the affections are brought under the
authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone accept His
lordship. The Cross, as it enters the love live, will reveal the heart's
truth." Whether in a dating relationship, married, or pursuing a call to
single life, readers will find Elliot's message challenging them to a true faith
in a Christ who lovingly calls us to surrender all.
--Courtenay Kehn
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Review
Dating either leads to marriage, or it leads to the pain of breaking up. Why not
just 'be friends,' and don't make a commitment to a guy or girl, until you're
ready to get married? The author of this book, now married, says that avoiding
the dating scene saves you a lot of heart ache, and frees you to intermingle in
a healthy way with members of the opposite sex.
--Susan Williams
Editorial Review
While most Christians agree to seek purity and save sex for marriage, few have
been given a blueprint for how that should affect their view of dating and love.
In I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Joshua Harris exposes the "Seven Habits
of Highly Defective Dating" and offers a realistic outline of how to have a
biblical vision of marriage. Harris contends that one must begin with a new
attitude, viewing love, purity, and singleness from God's perspective rather
than thinking that love and romance are to be enjoyed "solely for
recreation." In such well-named chapters as "Guarding Your Heart"
and "What Matters at Fifty," Harris encourages the reader to look at
one's character rather than reveling in infatuation, to regard love as a truly
selfless, biblical act rather than a feeling. He refutes the concept that we are
victims of "falling in love" (that it is beyond our control), saying
that "God wants us to seek guidance from scriptural truth, not feeling.
Smart love looks beyond personal desires and the gratification of the moment. It
looks at the big picture: serving others and glorifying God." Before you
roll your eyes, moaning that this sounds terribly unromantic, know that Harris
does a superb job of couching his convictions in the sincere belief that if we
are purposeful in our singleness and date with integrity, a fulfilled marriage
awaits us--in God's timing.
--Jill Heatherly
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