Article August 11, 2003 Issue

SOME REAL WINNERS

Lauren F. Winner

I like to assume that most people know I am a Christian, and when they see that I am sometimes joyful and sometimes peaceful when they are not, they will want to know my secret.

... work is being done whether I feel it or not. Sediment is being laid. Words of praise to God are becoming the most basic words in my head. They are becoming the fallback words, drowning out advertising jingles and professors' lectures and sometimes even my own monologue.

The Spirit is the reason ... we do not live paralyzed in fear of messing up. The Spirit is how we unfold God's will this side of eternity. The Spirit is the reason we can build a church and have confidence that we will get it at least a little bit right.

Excerpts from Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner
© 2002 by Lauren F. Winner.
Reprinted by permission of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill,
A division of Workman Publishing.