Redeeming Love

I never read a romance novel in my entire life unless you consider Hunchback of Notre Dame one. I thought they were a cheesy, sappy, indulgent waste of time.

But I made a deal with my friend, Shara, that if she read my two of my favorite books, The Alchemist and The Shack, I'd read hers. When she said, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers was her favorite, I let out a heavy sigh and regretted giving her my word. It happened to be in the house I was staying in, how coincidental! I picked it up and thought, "A 464 page Christian romance novel??? How cheesy can you get!?!?!?!?"

Not anymore. It has rocked me to the core. I couldn't put it down, I finished it in four days! I feel like I've gone through a transformation along with the main character of the book since she thought so many of the same thoughts I do and did so much of what I've done to protect myself, especially from others.

There's a quote towards the end of the book which sums up the book:
"Love is the way back into Eden. It is the way back to life."

I hope that from today on, my life will live out that message to everyone around me.

Every book I've read this summer, though not purposeful, has one common, overarching theme: LOVE

I've come to this conclusion after all that I've recently read along with my life's experiences:
We fear that which we cannot overcome and the only way we can overcome is through love. Love is the only power in all of creation that can turn water into wine, paupers into princes, and this desolate, hopeless outcast into a beloved daughter of God. No one is immune to the transforming power of God's love, not even one.

Life Without Limbs

Great Quotes

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson

The following quotes are from The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo:

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is a worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.

If a person is living out his destiny, he knows everything he needs to know. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.

Remember what I told you: the world is only the visible aspect of God. And that what alchemy does is to bring spiritual perfection into contact with the material plane.

When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there's not need at all to understand what's happening...

No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.

Once upon a time a visitor came to the monastery looking for the purpose and meaning of life. The teacher said to the visitor, 'If what you seek is Truth, there is one thing you must have above all else.' "I know," said the visitor. "To find truth I must have an overwhelming passion for it." "No," the Teacher said. "In order to find Truth, you must have an unremitting readiness to admit you may be wrong."