What is a Sifted Heart?

 

In Passion and Purity, Elisabeth Elliot shares the story of how love blossomed slowly, carefully and at times painfully, between herself and her first husband, Jim Elliot, who was killed shortly after they married.  As a single Catholic woman over the age of 30 in a world where a woman's value is based on her physical appearance or the number of suitors she has, I found a lot of solace in this book.  For over a year, I felt God asking me to go on a journey with Him--to trustingly surrender to Him as I walked through the great unknown in my life. 

Unsurprisingly, this happened shortly after I joined the Catholic Church.  I have felt called to marriage since my mid-20s but I never heard of marriage as a vocation until I joined the Church.  I just thought that marriage was something that most people did.  I knew based on the divorce rate that something was wrong with the way our society conducts marriage and had long discovered modern Christian authors like Joshua Harris who encouraged single unmarried Christians to run from the modern culture's version of dating. 

However, as I became older, I felt like I needed something more.
I was looking for something that addressed my specific situation: a single woman-in-waiting.  Who was I waiting for?  A husband?  Christ?  God took me by the hand and started leading me down a pathway towards a better understanding of marriage.  I learned about the beautiful Theology of the Body and Natural Family Planning. I learned why being a virgin is a great start but chastity is even better.  I learned why it truly takes Three to Get Married.   

Today, I'm still on that journey and I still don't know where it will lead.  However, God has been doing a mighty work in me, essentially sifting and scouring my heart as Elisabeth Elliot says in her book.  There are many scriptures in the Bible that support the notion that God purifies, prunes and refines:

For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance. Psalm 66:10-12

This is what The Sifted Heart is about--allowing God to work in whatever way He knows will lead to my purification.  Many blogs and books have inspired me along the way.  It is my hope to share my own insight with anyone who might be interested and hopefully offer an interesting perspective.  Thanks for stopping by.