From the Book Covers
By the Author
Most of us are private about our spiritual lives. We share recipes, give details of how we fixed our cars, what we did on our vacations, or how our romances are going. Just about everything in life gets talked about—except the nitty-gritty of our personal experience with God.
If the spiritual life does come up, people become vague, fall into clichés, or use euphemistic words. Usually, we talk in terms of activities—Bible study, prayer, church attendance, tithing, witnessing—rather than interaction with the Person.
As a child, I always wanted to know how people lived and managed life—even to the extent of wondering where the bathrooms were placed in ancient castles. Recently, I found a children’s pop-up book that gave me that answer, but not one that described the process of coming to know God. I said to myself, “I don’t have the skills to design a pop-up book, but I can share the intimate details of God in my life. Living Loved: Recognizing and Responding to God, does just that! In it I share one of my journal responses to God. We were visiting our daughter and family, hoping to be there for the baby's birth. But, Evan was not yet born when John had to return for work. I stayed on to help when the baby did come. I watched newly born Evan look up into his mother's eyes--so intensely, so concentrated on his connection to her. I felt drawn into Your circle of love, Father, when You said, ‘You are My child, Laurie.’ As if I were held in the crook of Your arm. Seeing love for me in Your face, nothing outside that range of focus mattered. At that moment, I stopped writing and sat, wrapped in the receiving blankets of God’s love—warmth and connection touching every inch of me.
If the spiritual life does come up, people become vague, fall into clichés, or use euphemistic words. Usually, we talk in terms of activities—Bible study, prayer, church attendance, tithing, witnessing—rather than interaction with the Person.
As a child, I always wanted to know how people lived and managed life—even to the extent of wondering where the bathrooms were placed in ancient castles. Recently, I found a children’s pop-up book that gave me that answer, but not one that described the process of coming to know God. I said to myself, “I don’t have the skills to design a pop-up book, but I can share the intimate details of God in my life. Living Loved: Recognizing and Responding to God, does just that! In it I share one of my journal responses to God. We were visiting our daughter and family, hoping to be there for the baby's birth. But, Evan was not yet born when John had to return for work. I stayed on to help when the baby did come. I watched newly born Evan look up into his mother's eyes--so intensely, so concentrated on his connection to her. I felt drawn into Your circle of love, Father, when You said, ‘You are My child, Laurie.’ As if I were held in the crook of Your arm. Seeing love for me in Your face, nothing outside that range of focus mattered. At that moment, I stopped writing and sat, wrapped in the receiving blankets of God’s love—warmth and connection touching every inch of me.
