Re: Books on Spirituality

Hi Godschild!

I guess now would be a good time to share some things that have recently happened in my life because of a book our church is reading.

It's called "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren.

I am smart and funny and friendly and loving and caring. Since I've been Liver Flushing and parasite cleansing and colon cleansing and just generally trying to take care of myself, I've lost 10 or 15 pounds. My skin is clear for the first time in years, my moods have stabilized, I have more energy, and I am living again instead of only existing, as I was doing up until June of this year. In short, I'm attractive and I've so much to give. I'm not backwards or a social misfit.

Why then had I been feeling so lonely? The first part of October, my self esteem was in the toilet. I felt as if people did not want to know me. No one seemed to value me. My husband was always yelling at me and making me feel generally unloved. Most of my extended family never came to visit when they were in town (although they are always cordial when we come to visit them). As a matter of fact, I felt like my Shepherds at church didn't even care about me, that they were too busy for me, or I was simply too needy. I was so starved for human contact. I even felt abandoned by God!! I was pretty low emotionally. I was seriously thinking about just throwing in the towel and slowly letting myself die instead of pursuing health. I felt like drowning my consciousness with alcohol. There was little joy for this Christian. I didn't understand what this short life was all about. We live. Then we die. What's the point??? let’s get on with in. Yadda yadda yadda…

Then my church gave me a book. I was reluctant to begin this study with my church. They are big on "programs" and such, and I just didn't feel up to another canned study that 200 other churches were all doing at the same time. It just didn't sit right with me. I didn't even want to go to church that Sunday. Pretty strong words for someone who is a worship leader at church! I'm just being honest in the hopes that someone else who is in this kind of pain can have some hope as I now have.

In the course of reading this book, I have shed many tears. I have found out my purpose in this life, and it has affected me dramatically. I just wish everyone else knew about it too. Here's an excerpt:

You were planned for God's pleasure.

The moment you were born into the world, God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. He wanted you alive, and your arrival gave him great pleasure. God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for his own enjoyment. You exist for his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight.

Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is the first purpose of your life. When you fully understand this truth, you will never again have a problem with feeling insignificant. It proves your worth. If you are that important to God, and he considers you valuable enough to keep with him for eternity, what greater significance could you have? You are a child of God, and you bring pleasure to God like nothing else he has ever created. The Bible says, "Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children--this was his pleasure and purpose."

This made me cry. God smiled at my birth. I don't even think my own mother smiled at my birth. But God created me, and he created me to bring him pleasure. And he wants me to be with him for eternity. That's why he made a way for sinners to live with a holy God who cannot even look upon sin. And that's why I'm recommending this book to anyone who has a self esteem problem. Once you realize how much God delights in you, just as you are, because he's the one who made you just as you are, you will never be the same.

Juniper Berry

:)