This post is part of our "Purpose Driven Life" book study, the first official Christian Boylove Forum book study. If you would like to join in, do not be discouraged by the thought that it's too late. The book is designed to be read one chapter per day but we only study one chapter every Monday and Thursday in this forum, so if you read it at the book's recommended pace, you will catch up with us very quickly. If you do not own the book, you can read the first few chapters for free here: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/en-US/AboutUs/AboutTheBook/FirstSevenChapters.htm while you look for the book in your local bookstores or wait for it to arrive from online

Surrender


This was a big one for me early on in my walk with God and my acceptance of being a boylover. Growing up, the prospect of one day having my own family was something I looked forward to very much. I looked forward to it to the point where I took it for granted that one day I would have my own family, my own children, and life would be great. But as I became fully aware of my sexual orientation, it started to become obvious to me that this was perhaps not going to happen unless I forced it to.

Surrendering to God in my case involved giving up on that dream, accepting that God may not have a family in store for me and I may indeed be perpetually single.

That's not to say that the above is true for everyone or that it is wrong of us to seek to have a family merely because we are a BL. Neither am I saying that I am opposed to the idea of ever having my own family. Rather, I am saying that God challenged me to lay that down at the altar as a sacrifice to him. God asked me to give that up for his sake, to give up that dream. That's not to say that, like Abraham sacrificing Isaac, God won't step in at the last minute and give me what he had asked me to give up, but rather that I am willing to do without it if that is his will.

Common things God may ask boylovers to sacrifice may include other things such as: a sex life, romantic relationships, or even friends and social status in the case of those who are called to live life outside the closet either by choice or force. God will probably ask all of us to give up one or more of those things, a family was most difficult for me to give up. Is there one that you find most difficult to sacrifice for God?

to participate actively in the book study, feel free to respond to this post or to any of the discussion questions Cat or anyone else posts below. You don't necessarily need to respond to what is written on this post, you may prefer instead to talk about the parts of the chapter that spoke to you even if it wasn't something mentioned on this post. You may also pose your own discussion questions.