Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Preventing Grace

Home
Evangelical
7 Takes About How God Is Leading You

7 Takes About How God Is Leading You

Last updated on: June 26, 2020 at 8:57 am by Anne Kennedy

7 Takes About How God Is Leading You 2020-06-26T08:57:15-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Oh well, that doesn’t sound hard at all.

As I labored through the week I wasted a little bit of time googling things like “Women’s Bible Studies” and “Glennon Doyle” and “Rachel Hollis Divorce” and ridiculous stuff like that. And, well, the result of my investigations is that I have some thoughts.

One

Googling is stupid. Instead of doing that I could have read a whole ‘nother book or written one myself.

Two

If you want to talk to big crowds of women it seems like you have to be blond and wear impossibly tall heels.* This seems to be true even if you are Opera and are elevating someone else’s thoughts and feelings about how the universe will guide you if you just “surrender.” In all my googling I began to wish I had paid attention in statistics and could work out a study about the hair color of female spiritual influencers. I know there are some red-heads out there, and one or two brunettes, although with a competent hairdresser I suppose anyone can have any great hair color…maybe someone has already done this study? Would it be possible to be a person women listen to if you had a bad hair cut? Or had gone gray but not in an elegant way? I don’t really want to google more to find out.

Three

Based on the topics that come up most often, the thing that women seem particularly anxious about is, wait for it…What Is God (or the Universe) leading me to do? This fascinates me, being a question that reveals a number of curious assumptions about what may be the psychological, emotional, and spiritual character of the average woman. To begin with, she doesn’t know what to do. And yet, she believes that she should be doing something. She doesn’t really know how to solve the problem of how to figure out what to do with herself. She is, therefore, pretty dissatisfied, knowing, as she does, that there must be an answer out there. Probably going to a conference or watching some stuff on YouTube will help her.

Four

This fascinates me because, based on how most of the cameras in most of these videos pan across the room, the crowds of women (with the occasional man thrown in) are also predominately blond, almost all made up, definitely middle class, not particularly ethnically diverse though the camera always finds some diversity, almost certainly college-educated. In other words, real money has been spent by and for these women for the precise purpose of helping them to know “what to do.”

Five

Many times, in many Women’s Bible Study videos (which, I should say, are not absolutely theologically objectionable, but give you as much as you were hoping to get in ten minutes) you could replace the word “God” with “The Universe” and all the sentences would still basically make sense.

Six

As usual, I feel like my own assumptions about the nature of God and my own expectations of myself and what Christianity is even for are completely at odds with those of the prevailing culture. First of all, I am not blond, so. Can I even read the Bible or think about surrendering to the universe? I dunno. Second, I always know what I’m supposed to do when I wake up in the morning. The problem is that I don’t want to do it. Well, sometimes I want to, but a lot of the time it’s a drag. I know I must obey my Lord on a number of troubling fronts like loving my enemies and children, dying to my own sinful self, confessing my sins, getting dinner on the table, coping with the horrible offering of the cat behind the couch, returning a lot of texts that fluttered by in the latter part of the previous day, finally dealing with the huge pile of laundry on the dining room table, finishing that book I promised to review, and working out that idea that is just beyond my grasp for an article or something, and taking another walk so I can shove myself into my precovid clothes.

Seven

Moreover, the few minutes at the beginning and end of a busy day when I get to fasten my internal spiritual eye on my Lord, the last thing I want or have time for is to be given more things to “do” by him, or anyone. Indeed, I know that many of the things I am doing are probably a waste of my time, but he doesn’t mind particularly if I keep doing them. The main thing is that he is not some energy force that is “leading and guiding” me in any particular direction if only I would settle down deep within myself to “hear” or anything. He is God—a Being ineffable, beyond the universe, which is his own creation, who nevertheless attends to the needs and sorrows of his own creature—me—through the power of the Holy Spirit and the efficacious blood of the Son. What do I need that he has not already provided? If you don’t know the answer to that question, and you’re not blond, get off the internet and go find a small church somewhere.

And go check out more takes!

*I love blond people so….

Demotivations with Anne

Culture Watch

Feminism

Just Plain Sarcastic

Previous Post

June 25, 2020

Three Things on Thursday

Next Post

June 28, 2020 Humility in Pride Month

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What king was killed by an arrow in battle, fulfilling Elijah's prophecy?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joash Ahab Jeroboam Ahaziah

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »