If you’re eager to be encouraged, you will want to know the story of Faith Elizabeth, a Christian woman who is handwriting the Bible as a gift for her future husband.
It’s not as if Faith knows who that man will be. In fact, she began the project after breaking up with a longstanding boyfriend two years ago. She said the idea was something the Lord “put on her heart.”
“My biggest dream is to become a wife and a mother,” she recently wrote on Instagram.“God continues writing the woman I’m becoming.” She then added, “This started as a gift for my future husband. It’s becoming a love letter to the God who’s teaching me to wait.”
In addition to transcribing the Bible, she’s also tucking in notes and prayers intended for the man she hopes and prays to marry one day.
As it turns out, Faith isn’t the only individual doing this. As news about the practice has spread online, others followed suit – and so did the criticism.
Online critics have run the gamut, claiming those who are doing it are focusing too much attention on marriage, overly romanticizing their lives, or even attempting to ‘manifest’ or manufacture a spouse.
The Bible may be silent on the idea of praying specifically for a future spouse, but it encourages Christians to bring all their desires and needs to the Lord (Phil. 4:6, 1 John 5:14). In terms of priority, few things should top the gift of a husband or wife to share in life with. It’s the wise believer who asks God to help them be discerning when it comes to finding a mate.
Johannes Gutenberg is credited with making the mass production of the Bible possible thanks to his development of durable metal movable type, specialized ink, and a printing press. Before that technology existed, it could take between one and three years to handwrite a Bible.
To be sure, Faith Elizabeth has received praise for her project, but the online vitriol and criticism speak to a broader issue that Christians, especially, must push back against in the culture: cynicism.
Cynics have been around forever, but the advent and explosion of social media haselevated it to something of an art form. Because negative opinions and stories garner more attention, contrarian and cantankerous viewpoints get more clicks, which then translate into more eyeballs and dollars for those who benefit from internet traffic.
One breed of cynics will defend their commentary by suggesting they’re simply being realistic and serving up hard truths. G.K. Chesterton was writing long before the Internet, but he wasn’t buying the essence of that excuse when he challenged, “The cynic is not a man who sees things as they are, but as they are not.”
In essence, the British writer was warning against being so obsessed with finding flaws that you’re almost blinded to seeing what is good and wholesome.
We don’t need more cynics and critics. What we desperately need in the Christian Church are more believers who encourage and applaud people like Faith Elizabeth.
Well done, Faith. We join you in praying that the Lord will one day grant you the desires of your heart.
The post The Growing Trend of Handwriting the Bible for Your Future Husband appeared first on Daily Citizen.
Daily Citizen