Behind the Scenes

Seeing God as He Really Is

Behind the Scenes /

Some in the religious establishment have so disfigured God that people see him as a demanding tyrant who orchestrates horrible tragedies to punish or train them. They don’t know God as a loving Father or Jesus as a gracious Redeemer who is not manipulating the chaos of darkness to torment them into obedience; Father and Son are reaching into the chaos with a love so profound and rich that it can rescue us from any tragedy life has dealt us.

That came home to me in the last couple of days as I’ve had conversations with sixty or so people who are in various stages of fighting for freedom and sobriety against horrendous trauma in their lives. I am humbled by their struggle and admire so much the courage it takes to confront their brokenness and learn to rely on Jesus to do what they are powerless to solve on their own.

One of these conversations happened in a state-run rehab facility, where the people had read The Shack or watched the movie and wanted to discuss how Father intersects with their own journeys. The questions were poignant, their observations astute, and their passion to find what’s true was evident in their comments. Many of them had had religious experiences that turned them off to God.  It was an incredible joy to talk with them  in such starkly honest terms about who God is and how he wanted to be involved in their lives.

And that’s just the last two days. Throughout this trip, our personal connections have been rich, and the joy I feel watching Sara share from her trauma story warms my heart in ways you can’t imagine. What a trip we have had! We think back on so many conversations and so many old friendships rekindled, and new ones begun. After our weekend in Pennsylvania, it will be time to turn this ship westward and home to California.

Though we took our time getting out to the east coast, we are going to take a quick and direct route home. It is time to get back to our life there. So, with apologies to those in Iowa and South Dakota, who hoped we would come through those states, we are taking a more southerly route home. Here’s how that route looks now:

We are not planning a lot of big gatherings after Lexington, KY. The rest of the trip will be more about personal connections with those who desire it. . But we will take time in these areas to connect with people who may desire it. We’re still finalizing what this might look like, so if you’re interested in connecting, please email Wayne as soon as possible.  

 

 

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Holding on to Love

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Sara and I are making a big turn up the east coast this week and begin our journey westward on Monday, with stops in Lexington and Louisville this weekend. From there, it looks like we’re going to go through St. Louis and Kansas City to visit our son in Denver.  If you’re along that way and want to connect with us, please get in touch.

For those concerned about our dog Zoey, she had her four-week, post surgery check-up for her ACL, and it is healing well.  We still have not gotten biopsy results back. Crazy!

Here are two videos you might enjoy:

Here are some thoughts from a conversation last night, many of you might find helpful:

“Lose track of his love and you’ll get lost in the darkness; hold on to his love and he will light you a path through it. ”

And, water returns to the tribes in North Pokot:

Thanks to all who have helped us with the need in Kenya. We’re getting close to the total that will help meet their needs for water and relief in this time of crisis. You can read my blog about the current need.

And it is not too late if you still want to help us. We still need about $10,000, if you have some extra. Again, every dime you give goes straight to Kenya; we take nothing out for administrative or financial fees.

God has been so good to us on this journey, with so many conversations and journeys to share, whether it’s people coming to a meeting or a chance encounter getting a haircut, we’re having a lot of fun coming alongside others and helping them see how Jesus might be leading them, What a delight to wander across the U.S. and see what doors Father opens, and what cinnamon rolls we can find!

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Better Explored than Explained

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No, I’ve not become a rapper!  That photo was taken Saturday morning in a conversation where I was trying to shield myself from the sun. But, I can wear that look!

Yesterday, Sara and I left the Austin area to continue our journey to the east. We’ve added new stops in Pensacola, Atlanta, Jekyll Island, Charlotte over the next month on our way to Richmond and Baltimore. After that we’re considering a stop in York, PA before turning west to Lexington, Louisville, and then on to Denver.

We hold so many great memories from our time in Texas and the people that let us into their hearts. What an amazing time we live in, where Jesus is inviting so many to walk alongside him even if it means uprooting the legalistic performance they were taught! And while that will make some in your family fear for your journey and even attack you for it, it is worth letting his love win you out of the obligation and judgment that define so much of religion, so you can live tenderly and graciously in the world, especially with your detractors.

Now we can begin to orbit a different reality—unmoored from our religious sensibilities we can get to know him and watch how his glory liberates us from the bondages of darkness and invites us into the light where we can be wholehearted in our walk with him.

Here’s how I expressed that journey in the last chapter of He Loves Me:

OF COURSE, NOTHING IN THIS BOOK has any value if it is just an intellectual argument, or if it only spawns a theology of God’s love. It only has meaning if you can learn how to live loved—to awaken to each new day confident that the Father delights over you like a parent over his newborn child.

I could go on and on with other implications of what it means to live in God’s love, and how it revolutionizes everything about the way we think or live. But I think the picture is clear enough now and you’ll be able to recognize the pathway and follow it wherever your Father wants to take you. Believe me, this is a life far better lived than it is read or talked about.

I’ve spent twelve years (now thirty years) mining the width and breadth of the Father’s affection and my life in him grows deeper and richer as the months go by. I keep discovering just how incredible he is and how freely I can live when I’m confident of his affection for me. I’ve seen him change so many things in my life this way, and yet I feel as if I’m just beginning.

You will enjoy far more the process of discovering how he wants to live in you than to keep reading more on the subject.

The life of Jesus is far better explored than explained. You can read and talk about it until you’re exhausted and frustrated; the joy comes in waking up each morning with an eye to discovering how he will make himself known to you on this day and what it will reshape in your heart no matter what you go through.

We’ll be talking about all of this at our final gathering of the He Loves Me Book Club, which will meet this Saturday, April 20, at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.  We will be focusing on chapters 22 and 23. Chapter 22 focuses on the prayer God always answers and is a huge help for us to discern how he’s inviting us to follow him. The last chapter contains some simple guidance to learning to live loved.

Even if you have not been with us before, you’re welcome to join us for this last study.  If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live now on my Lifestream Ministry Page, since a new glitch in Zoom is not allowing us to post them to my Facebook Author Page. I will, however, post it to the Author Page once the conversation has concluded. You will be able to view it there along with  all the previous discussions we’ve had about He Loves Me.

And if you want to see any of our conversations through He Loves Me, you can find them all here:

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Free of Shame and Full of Love

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Due to the fact that Sara and I will be leaving soon, we’re doubling-up on our study of He Loves Me. This weekend we’ll be tackling two more chapters. Chapter 20 is about living free from shame in our relationship to the Father though Jesus’s work on the cross.  Chapter 21 is about swimming in the river of love, and how when we are loved well by God, we will love well in the world.

These two freedoms lie at the heart of living loved and will change how you naturally live in the world. Can you imagine living in this kind of freedom without forcing yourself?

You will soon find that your security in God’s love and your awareness of his unlimited patience with you will redefine the other relationships in your life.

Instead of demanding that others conform to what you think is right, you will find yourself letting others have their own journey. By no longer manipulating them to what you think is best you can allow them the same freedom God gives you. You will let them choose their own course based on nothing but the clarity of truth as they understand it and the willingness of their conscience. It is the task of the Holy Spirit to convict, not yours.

Instead of despising people who are broken by sin you will be touched by the depth of bondage that holds them captive. You will also see better how the Father responds to them and then know how you can as well. Sometimes that means you’ll stand back and let the consequences of sin take their course as the father did with his prodigal son. At other times it means you’ll jump into the mess with them and help them find God’s way out.

Instead of saying what you think people want to hear, you’ll look for ways to be gently honest with them. Human love seeks people’s comfort at the expense of truth. God’s love seeks people’s comfort in the midst of truth. He doesn’t avoid the difficult moment or hold his peace just to be nice. As you experience that in your own relationship with him you’ll find yourself unable to be disingenuous with people.

Finally, by looking to God as the resource for your needs you will find yourself not overloading your friendships with expectations that are easily disappointed. By vesting all of our hope in God’s ability to meet our needs we will not need to force our friends to do it. I know God will often use other believers to extend his gifts and graces to me, but now I also know I don’t get to choose the vessel he uses. In other words, I always look for how God is revealing himself to me through other believers, but I don’t trick myself into thinking it has to come from the specific person I want him to use.

Disappointed expectations destroy relationships because we look to others in ways God wants us to look to him. Such expectations set us up for enduring frustration. However, when we give up our expectations of people, we’ll find God uses some of the most unlikely people to lend us a hand. Our frustration will yield to gratefulness however, whenever, and through whomever God uses others to touch us or us to touch others.

We’ll be talking about all of this at our next gathering of the He Loves Me Book Club, which will meet this Saturday, March 23, at 11:00 am Pacific Daylight Time.  This is two hours earlier than previously announced because of a schedule conflict. I apologize for the inconvenience.

We will be focusing on chapters 20 and 21. This is our second-to-the last gathering but even if you have not joined us before, you’re welcome to join us tomorrow and process how you can live more freely in love as well.

If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live now on my Lifestream Ministry Page, since a new glitch in Zoom is not allowing us to post them to my Facebook Author Page. I will, however, post it to the Author Page once the conversation has concluded. You will be able to view it there along with  all the previous discussions we’ve had about He Loves Me.

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Lifestream Going Mobile – Update

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A lot of you have asked about our travel plans this spring, and it seems we have a little more clarity on where we might wander.  To be honest, these are “windblown trips”, without a lot of fore planning because of the spontaneous opportunities that seem to come up wherever we go. They are a mix of vacation for Sara and me, as well as time helping people process things we’ve spoken about on the podcast or written about in my blogs or books. It’s a great mix of wonderful conversations and time alone for us as a couple.

So, you get to pick our brains and hearts about learning to live in love, dealing with religious abuse and rejection, finding relational community, living in the river of love, finding your way through trauma, the call to the Bride, or anything else that will help you process your journey.

As I previously announced, we are headed to the Austin area to see the total eclipse, skies permitting at the beginning of April. We’re also hanging out with some fellow travelers there before turning more eastward toward Alabama and the Carolinas. We not sure of our routing here, other than to get to Anniston, AL.  As of now, we are planning on going all the way to the east coast. We have some invitations in Richmond, VA and near Baltimore, MD that will be the furthest reach of this trip before turning back west. We’re going to try to get to Lexington to respond to an invite, but how we get back to visit our son in Colorado from there is still up in the air.

Why do I share this?  In case you’re somewhere along this path and Father puts anything on your heart about a connection, or you want to come meet us somewhere if you’re not. If so, please get in touch.

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Managing Sin and Having Faith

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I think we got it backwards when I was growing up.

We were told relationship with Jesus depended on us managing our sin well—sincerely trying to abstain from it, meeting with accountability groups, and when we failed, we had to make sure we confessed by telling God how sorry we were and (nobly, though falsely) promising we’d never give in again. The only problem was none of that worked.

Now I know it wasn’t meant to.

I also learned that my relationship with God depended on me trusting him completely. I had as much success with that as I did managing my sin. Certainly, I wanted to trust him that way but every day demonstrated that I was incapable of doing so.

That made the Christian journey either exhausting game of pretending to be better than I was, or a frustrating, self-condemning slog through

The part we missed was, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

We were never meant to conquer our sin or convince ourselves of a faith we didn’t have. That’s how the New Covenant flipped everything on its head. Instead of managing our sin or trying to trust more, he only wants us to learn how to live alongside him in the reality of his love. I now know that as I learn to live in his love, the power of sin loses its grip on me and my trust in him grows by his power instead of by my effort.

Christianity is afraid to give that freedom to people for fear that they will simply use grace as an excuse to indulge their flesh and serve themselves. We keep twisting up the gift of redemption by trying to find Scriptures that will scare people back into self-effort. I addressed that problem in Chapter 18 of He Loves Me.

We make a fatal mistake when we try to force Scripture to offer redemption to those who only want to go to heaven, but who do not want a relationship with the Living God. By trying to offer them some minimal standard of conduct that will also allow them to qualify for salvation while continuing to pursue their own agenda, we distort the gospel and destroy its power, and we concoct legalistic games to give them a false sense of security.

In fact the New Testament has nothing to say to people who want God’s salvation without wanting him. The Scriptures are an unabashed invitation to live as a child of the most incredible Father in the universe. As you do, you will yearn to be like him. You will discover that God’s way is better than anything you can imagine and you’ll lay down your agenda to embrace his.

_____________

Righteousness doesn’t produce relationship. Relationship produces righteousness.

We’ll be talking about all of this at our next gathering of the He Loves Me Book Club, which will meet this Saturday, March 16, at 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.  We will be focusing on chapters 18 and 19—how living loved gives us a different approach to sin than human effort could ever achieve, and a real grasp on trust that we can’t muster on our own. Even if you have not joined us before, you’re welcome to join us tomorrow and process how you can live more freely in love as well.

If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live now on my Lifestream Ministry Page, since a new glitch in Zoom is not allowing us to post them to my Facebook Author Page. I will, however, post it to the Author page once the conversation has ended. You can see it there as well as all the previous discussions we’ve had about He Loves Me.

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To the Eclipse and Beyond . . .

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Sara and I will soon be packing up the RV and heading out again with our two dogs—the first trip for our new puppy.

The total solar eclipse on April 8 is the catalyst for this trip. I saw one in 2017 with my son in Wyoming as I was helping him move to Denver. It was one of the most moving experiences I’ve had in nature and promised to get Sara to this one, since it is the last one in the U.S. in our lifetime. A favorite author of mine, Anne Dillard wrote a piece about an eclipse she witnessed years ago, and in it she captures the feelings I had myself.  She wrote, “Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him.” There’s nothing like that moment when the sun seems to go out. The stars appear; the earth cools; the birds go silent. It is surreal in its truest sense, and I can’t wait to get Sara to this one.

We’ll be heading south from here, through the southern end of Arizona and New Mexico in the first part of April, finally settling around Wimberley, TX for ten days. We will also be meeting with friends in that area and perhaps some from San Antonio.  From there, it looks like we’re going to make our way to eastern Mississippi along the gulf coast.  If you’re along that route somewhere and want to pull some people together, please let me know.

We’re not sure where we go from there; it will depend on where the Spirit blows us, where the early spring weather will allow us to go, and where there is hunger for us to visit. This is what travel looks like for me now. I spent many years mostly flying alone all over the world to meet wherever hungry hearts invited me for some conversation about living loved, finding the Church Jesus is building, and sharing life together. I usually stayed in people’s homes and enjoyed so much the connections God gave us. But now, since we are now dealing with the aftermath of Sara’s trauma, she likes me to be alongside her in the nighttime hours. So, we go together now, which allows Sara to be a part of it all as well as have some private space to process her journey. This has allowed us to have some amazing conversations with people in homes, restaurants, and parks as we explore the life of Jesus together.

So, if something is on your heart about touching base with us on this trip or a future one if we’re not coming near you, please let me know. For those who have done that for our previous trips, there is no need to, as we keep those on file in case we find ourselves in your area.  We look forward to seeing what God might have in mind for us on this, our third RV trip.   And if you just want to know if we happen to be having a gathering in your locale, you can sign up for my Travel List. Sign up here and make sure to include your physical address so we can contact you if we’re going to be nearby.

And for people we are not traveling near, I also do a lot of Zoom conversations to help small groups (or large ones) process their journeys of living inside Father’s affection, answer questions from my books or podcast, or help in any other way I can. All you have to do is ask, and then we can pray together and see what God might have in mind.

Lifestream Mobile

 

He Loves Me Book Club Meets this Saturday, March 2

We’ll continue our conversations about He Loves Me this weekend by delving into chapters 16 and 17 this weekend on Saturday, March 2 at 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.  We will be focusing on how the death of Christ gives us a basis for growing trust in the Father’s care and how we find freedom from religious performance so we can be transformed by his love.

If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live now on my Lifestream Ministry Page, since a new glitch in Zoom is not allowing us to post them to my Facebook Author Page. I will, however, post it to the Author page once the conversation has ended. You can see it there as well as all the previous discussions we’ve had about He Loves Me.

 

Thank you on behalf of Kenya

Thanks to those of you who have given to help us restore an agricultural project there that was destroyed by brutal winds. It provided water and sustenance for an entire tribe in the region.  To date, we’ve taken in about $8500 of the $12,796 that we needed.

If you can help us raise this money, please see our Donation Page at Lifestream. Just designate “Kenya” in the “Note” of your donation, or email us and let us know your gift is for Kenya. As always, all of your contributions go directly to Kenya; we don’t take out any fees for administration or for transferring the funds. You can also Venmo contributions to “@LifestreamMinistries” or mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or, if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

 

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Misunderstanding the Atonement

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Today, Sara and I head off for some gatherings in San Diego this weekend. We are looking forward to what Father has there.  Let me leave you with this as we go:

One of the greatest misunderstandings people have of Scripture is that God needed a sacrifice to love us. Jesus came in his humanity to offer the sacrifice God wanted from us that we could never give. While that expresses some Old Testament thoughts about sacrifices it misses the larger through-line of Scripture. God was shifting humanity’s view of sacrifice. All of the false gods that humans created were angry, vindictive deities, needing to be appeased by sacrifice—gifts and offerings at first, but for many, eventual human sacrifice.

The message God gave to Abraham when he tried to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice was that God didn’t want or need our sacrifice. He would be the sacrifice we need to re-engage him as our trusted friend. Jesus didn’t die to satisfy something broken in God (e.g. his need for justice), but Jesus died to satisfy something broken in humanity (our shame in sin and our fear of him.)  This is how I wrote about it in He Loves Me.

At Mt. Moriah God foreshadowed to Abraham what he would literally accomplish some three thousand years later on another hill not far away, Golgotha. It would not be the act of appeasement to an angry God by any sacrifice we could give, but an act of a loving God to sacrifice himself for those who were held captive in sin.

Far from being a blood-thirsty sovereign demanding sacrifice to satiate his need for vengeance, the Living God spends himself to bring back the banished son or daughter. He did not need a sacrifice to love us, for he already did.

We needed a sacrifice for our shame so that we would be free to love him again. At the cross, God provided the undeniable proof of just how much he loves us. For those who understand that, it opens the door for us to do what Adam and Eve could not do that fateful day in the Garden—totally entrust our lives to the Living God.

If we misunderstand the atonement, we will spend our lives trying to keep God appeased by earning his favor with our effort. When we understand what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we will be safe with God even in our most broken moments and be able to explore what it means to live in his love. That’s how important it is that we see Jesus’ death for what it was.  It was to rescue and redeem us from the power of darkness and invite us into the warmth and tenderness of his life and love.

This is what the third section of He Loves Me is all about—the undeniable proof that we are loved by God and invited into a relationship with him of growing friendship.  It’s also the theme of Transition, a set of recordings designed to help people move from an appeasement-based view of God and the cross, to an affection-based one that will allow you to connect with the redemption Jesus wanted for you.

If you want to talk more about this, we will be doing so in our next meeting of The He Loves Me Book Club, which will convene on Saturday, February 3 at 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.  We will focus on Chapters 12 and 13. If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live on my Facebook Author Page and leave the recording up after the conversation for others to hear. (You can find past ones by scrolling down on that page.)

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Opportunities to Explore Together

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I am truly blessed by the people God has related me to and the conversations I get to experience with people who are passionately exploring God’s reality in their own lives. I have tasted of the manifold wisdom of God as it is scattered in the body of Christ throughout the world and I am grateful beyond words. I also hold those thousands of conversations I’ve had as a trust to share freely with others what Father has so generously brought across my path. I enjoy providing a continual set of opportunities to invite other people into that conversation for our mutual edification and discovery. There is nothing like exploring this kingdom with other hungry hearts.

If you’d like to join me somewhere, here are some opportunities coming up this spring.

Sara and I were supposed to be in Jordan at the end of this month with fifty-five others, but the war in the Middle East has postponed our plans into 2025, Lord willing. So, instead we’re going to San Diego this year, responding to an invitation there by people we have never met but want to explore themes from He Loves Me. If you’d like to join an all-day conversation with us there, here are the details. We’ll be there on January 27 if you’re in the area.

I have a sense that this may mark a change in seasons for us. Having spent the last two years staying closer to home with Sara as God untangles her previously unknown trauma, it appears time to turn outward again with a new book and with some travel to encourage others.  Where are we going?  I’m unsure yet, but I’m not going to assume the invites I had on file before two years ago are still active, so if there’s something on your heart about having me, or Sara and me, come visit at some point, please email me a fresh request and let us know you’re still interested.

We are also planning another RV trip, first to take Sara to see the total eclipse of the sun on April 8, somewhere in central Texas. From there, we are going to see where Jesus might lead us as we wander for a few weeks. We’re not sure if we’re going south and east, or maybe toward the north. That will depend on two things—the weather and any invitations that come our way. So, if you’d like us to consider a visit to your area, now would be the time to let us know. I’m sorry we can’t be more committed at this time but we can trust that if this is something Father wants, he will arrange it as we simply follow him.

Last week, on The God Journey, I took some personal time to share a three-year experience I’ve had praying with a group of people from around the world after an invitation to stand with God against the delusion that is in the world. That includes both the darkness that keeps people’s hearts from knowing God, and the delusion that has distracted so many of my brothers and sisters politically and socially. In that podcast, I share the trajectory of our times in prayer and the things God has taught us as we continue to explore what that means. These sessions have dramatically altered my understanding of walking with God and prayer and were instrumental in navigating the tragedies that have affected my life in that time period. Without the people God put me alongside and the wisdom he shared with us, I doubt I would have responded the way I did, which brought healing and redemption in the midst of the most brutal trials I have ever negotiated.

For those of you who haven’t listened to the podcast in a while, Agreeing with God, might be worth a revisit. Those discoveries will affect the content of these pages going forward. And for those who have heard the podcast, we have scheduled a live After Show for those who want to discuss it for this Saturday, January 13 at 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.  If you have an interest in that topic you are welcome to join us. You can stream it live or listen to it afterwards on The God Journey Facebook Page. If you want to be in the conversation, make sure you’ve listened to the podcast and then email me for the link.  (Update:  Here is the link to that conversation.)

Finally, I’ve been facilitating a chapter by chapter discussion of He Loves Me. We meet every couple of weeks and you can get links and up to the minute notifications by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time. These conversations are held and recorded on Zoom. We stream them live on my Facebook Author Page for those who don’t want to be in the Zoom discussion, and you’ll find our previous conversations there. Here is a list so far: 

Exploring your journey in ever-deepening and loving conversations with others is a powerful part of our life in Jesus. If you don’t have people like that, ask Jesus to show them to you and be intentional about cultivating relationships around you. They don’t even have to agree with you about everything because friendship isn’t about agreement but compassionate care and generosity of spirit.

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When That Love Touches You…

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“Peter, do you love me?”

Why would Jesus care about being loved by Peter? He is Almighty God enthroned in the presence of thousands of adoring angels. He can command obedience simply because he is the greatest power in the universe. Why would he be seeking Peter’s love?

We seem to be far more comfortable when our deities command fear. Almost every idol or false god man has ever created seeks the submission of his or her subjects by sheer terror. But love? What false god ever wanted to be loved? Feared? Yes! Obeyed? Yes. But never loved.

After his work on the cross was finished, however, Jesus comes looking for love, and he seeks it from the one who had just failed him most. Could this be what he most wanted the cross to produce in his followers? Was his death designed to reach past their fears of God and begin a new relationship based on the intimacy of love instead? What else could it be?

Love lies at the very core of God’s nature. In fact, when John sums up the substance of God he does so in a very simple statement: “God is love.” We may not be able to explain in concrete terms all that God is and how Father, Son, and Spirit relate together in such unity, but we do know that they exist in a perfect state of love.

When that love touches you, you will discover there is nothing more powerful in the entire universe. It is more powerful than your failures, your sins, your disappointments, your dreams, and even your fears. God knows that when you tap the depths of his love, your life will forever be changed. Nothing can prevail over it, and nothing else will lead you to taste of his kind of holiness.

Adapted from He Loves Me, Chapter Ten, The Greatest Force in the Universe.

Those paragraphs still cause my heart to soar. That the God of the universe would put so much value on love is nothing humanity could contrive. This is a gift, pure and simple, the very essence of his nature. In the thirty years I’ve enjoyed learning to swim in that love instead of trying to earn it, this still overwhelms my heart with wonder.

We will be studying that chapter and the next one this Saturday, January 6, in the next gathering of the He Loves Me Book Club. We’ll begin at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. You can find the link for this conversation on the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link. These conversations are held and recorded on Zoom. We stream them live on my Facebook Author Page for those who don’t want to be in the Zoom discussion, and you’ll find our previous conversations there.

This week, we will discuss Chapter 10, The Greatest Force In the Universe, and Chapter 11, He Loved You Enough to Let You Go. Both cover the concepts that shifted the paradigm of my heart from the old religious views of God that destroyed my faith in him rather than encouraged it.

You are welcome to join us even if you haven’t before. We’re just exploring themes to help us walk more freely in God’s goodness and love.

When That Love Touches You… Read More »

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