Leslie Ludy

In their most popular book, bestselling authors Eric and Leslie Ludy challenge singles to take a fresh approach to relationships in a culture where love has been replaced by cheap sensual passion. When God Writes Your Love Story shows that God's way to true love brings fulfillment and romance in its purest, richest, and most satisfying form. This new edition includes an extra chapter from Leslie Ludy about the surprises of life after marriage!

Eric and Leslie Ludy want to offer an exciting vision of hope, proving that the Author of romance is alive and well and that true and lasting love can become a reality. Using the “four secrets to an amazing love story,” Eric and Leslie present a Christ-centered approach to building a relationship that will stand the test of time.… (meer)

SUMMARY: BACK COVER – Leslie Ludy interacts with thousands of young women each year, and these are the questions they are asking. In ANSWERING THE GUY QUESTIONS she tackles these critical issues in a powerful, pull-no-punches way. ..It will give you a vision for how you can help shape guys into the Christ-built, heroic men God designed them to be, as well as help you to discover a beautiful, God-centered romance.

REVIEW: Not really question and answer format like I thought it would be based on the title. Not really questions about guys either. Rather a detailed study into masculinity and how it has shifted from the way God designed it.

So the book is more of a discussion as to what masculinity is, why it matters, and how to return it to the original design. Ludy further explains that it is not only a “guy” problem but girls have a strong impact on it as well and must be part of the solution.

The author keeps referring back to her previous book titled – SET-APART FEMINITY – so it might be one that I have to track down and see what the foundation of her message is.

I do like that her and her husband are on the same Christ-centered journey and that he also writes and I am seeking out one of his books to read as well.

This book offered more of an outline of topics to discuss and I wouldn’t recommend it as a must read. However, I found some of the topics intriguing enough to follow up with some of her and her husband’s other titles: Meet Mr. Smith and Bravehearted Gospel.

When we have a Christ-consumed heart, guy no longer dominate our thoughts, our actions, and our decisions. (p6)

Until Jesus Christ is the obsession of your heart, you’ll always be looking to mere men to meet needs only He can fill. (p8)

Taking their cues from older brothers and pop-culture role models, they treated every girl like a piece of meat to either lustfully consume or carelessly discard…(p12)

…It was the paralyzing fear that when it came to guys, this was all I could ever expect. (p12)

The extra discouraging wrinkle to the whole saga was that Christian guys didn’t seem much different than all the other warped, perverted men of modern times. (p14) -- There is a very powerful scene in the book where her husband Eric is riding in a car with two Christian guys who begin telling foul jokes thinking nothing of guys just being guys. “When Eric told them that their lack of dignity now was preparing them to have a lack of dignity toward their future wives, they were shocked…He was just speaking of basic respect, but the concept riveted the attention of these two young men. They had never even heard of such a notion.” (p35)—NOTE: another common theme in my recent readings (this title and others) of the lack of life instruction for the church or home.

You are a daughter of the King so hold out for a man who has royal blood coursing through his veins. (p76) -- NOTE: This is one of the themes running through the book that we as SET-APART for God need to rise above cultural standards and return to God’s original plan and expect higher standards of the men we interact with (dads and brothers included) which will then inspire men to change their behavior.

….we should diligently pray that the sexual climate of our culture would realign with God’s pattern. (p83) NOTE: Prayer is another main topic throughout – because it is prayer that changes things and brings us back to the Christ-centered plan for our lives. Plus the power of prayer goes above and beyond anything we can personally do especially in the realm of changing hearts and behaviors.

SHOWING SKIN – Any area of my body that would be awkward or uncomfortable for another guy to touch is an area of my body that I keep hidden for my husband’s eyes alone. (p86) – NOTE: There are many topics addressed throughout in mentor-like guiding fashion about modesty and refraining from physical contact and sexually appealing distractions. There is a very though-provoking section that tells of her observation of young people today and how they so casually touch and hug guys some of them they just met in a careless way (p114). These actions set the tone of any new relationship and it also opens the door for temptations. -- …there is never a good reason to purposefully place yourself in a situation that can lead to compromise. (p142)

Whenever the enemy tries to distract you, hit back by praying intensely for an unsaved person. It’s one of the best strategies against spiritual attack. The enemy will back off when he realizes that it only turns you into a prayer warrior for the kingdom of God. (p120) – NOTE: I love this little powerful piece of wisdom that is just placed here in the book that I almost missed it. I’m going to add this to my Spiritual Warfare arsenal.

Although the topic of finding a warrior-poet and having that fairy-tale romance of a lifetime seems bleak based upon the observation of this world – the author does state again and again that it is possible if individuals will make the decision to be SET-APART and create for themselves a Christ-centered life. And I also found hope among the last pages of the book -- …all throughout Scripture, God demonstrates that it only takes one willing and yielded soul to change a generation. (p151)

…A woman who is completely sold out, wanting nothing more and nothing less than God’s will and Christ’s power in her life is remarkably attractive….- Jeremy, 21 (p154)

Some of the concepts that she and her future husband activated during their courtship sounds extreme (she even says so) but by having a relationship that was SET APART was exactly what God wanted and it made the marriage even more stronger by keeping sacred things sacred as God intended -- She was telling of their experience and stating that each individual / couple have to find their own boundaries in their own relationship with each other and with God.… (meer)

I couldn't finish the book. The first paragraph started good, but it all went downhill from there. It got to the point where I felt physically ill every time I looked at the book. While, she makes good points, the author's tone in this book is very harsh, often judgmental. It felt like a scolding: "Do this, or God's going to get you!" "Do it this way, or you'll never have a real relationship with God!"

And it got to the point where I was afraid to pick up the book. I read When God Writes Your Love Story, which she co-authored with her husband, and I loved it, so I was really excited about this book.

Now, I'm just disappointed.

Because, while God certainly convicts us, He doesn't send us on a guilt trip. I felt like the author missed part of that message when she was writing this book. The book was written in a very condemning way.… (meer)

Eric and Leslie Ludy write about how the Lord showed them what prayer really is: a pasionate communion with God. A passionate communion. Not just passion and emotion, and not just writing up a list of wants and needs to ask God about. They detail prayer that the evangelical world today does not know. It's the kind of prayer that the men and women of past church history demonstrated. The people who spent hours on their knees pleading for the souls of others before the Throne of Grace.

Eric writes with passion, the passion given him by a powerful God through the power of prayer. The kind of prayer that doesn't sit back and nonchalantly watch God "allow" things to happen, but the kind of prayer that fights the battle against the spiritual powers of Satan. I love how this book takes many of the Old Testament characters (like David and Joab) and really details the lives of these men. Eric mentions the 37 men who were considered David's Mighties. The men who never gave in to the enemy, who never yielded ground, who would not turn from their commander, and who dared to do the reckless in God's strength. Only 37 of them in the thousands that numbered David's armies, yet they were some of his closest confidants, and they knew how to fight.

Leslie gives three key ingredients for prayer:
1. Praying God-prayers. Praying how God wants us and commands us to pray. Not just how we think or feel that we should.
2. Praying with complete confidence (aka--faith). Doubt, suspicion, fear, and hesitancy are faith-killers. Remember it takes faith as big (or small ;) as a grain of mustard seed to move mountains--except that this culture doesn't exactly expect prayer to work miracles.
3. Praying until the answer comes. This, too, takes faith. And perseverence and tenacity. It takes spiritual fortitude to keep asking when we don't see anything happening. Just because we don't think we see anything changing, doesn't mean that God isn't working. And sometimes your prayers aren't meant to change your circumstances or change the intesity of the battle. Your prayers might be what is necessary to change you.

Like Jacob wrestled with God...

"Most of us have never even come to Peniel. We do our praying and our Christian thing in our own cunning and strength. But Peniel is the place where spiritual things truly get done. It's the place of wrestling, and that indimidates many of us. It's the place of holding on until the day breaks, until the victory is achieved--and that sounds tiresome. But this is the great secret to answered prayer." (Leslie Ludy)

Prayer also takes self-examination, as Leslie and Eric speak of. They knew they could not honestly face a holy God with known sin in their life, and as the Lord brought sin to their attention, they repented. Keeping a clear conscience between you and God is vital in a Christian's prayer life. As the authors put it, our Lord is a fearless Commander who gives no quarter to sin, and if we're going to be named among the mighty prayer warriors then we must be willing--no, not just willing, but desirious--for God's spiritual purging of our lives.

The Ludy's also write about the power of prayer in our physical lives. It is not uncommon for them to spend hours praying through the night. Sometimes praying instead of sleeping. You would expect this to tired them physically and mentally, but prayer fuels their bodies as well as their minds and they would not give in until they were certain of victory through prayer. The Lord blessed them for their perseverance and gave them strength above and beyond what they thougth they had. They gave no ground to their flesh, and the weapon of prayer yielded a mighty victory.… (meer)