‘A Scarlet Cord of Hope: My Journey through Guilt, Shame, and Fear to Hope’ by Sheryl Griffin – Book Review and Giveaway

One thing that I cherish more than anything since I joined Facebook and started my blog is meeting some incredibly wonderful people – both online and, more importantly, in person. One of the lovely ladies I have met is Sheryl Griffin, author of ‘A Scarlet Cord of Hope: My Journey through Guilt, Shame and Fear to Hope.’ I was introduced to her when my husband, Fred, and I were in Nashville TN at the end of April/first of May this year for the Nashville Marathon. We were scheduled to have breakfast with the equally lovely Charlotte Hunt (author of several books, including her latest, ‘Dream Madly, Pursue Wildly, and Trust Completely: What You Wanted to Be When You Grew Up;’ looking forward to being encouraged once again when I read it!) and sweet and lovely Patty Mason, whose latest book is ‘Finally Free: Breaking the Bonds of Depression Without Drugs.’ Charlotte and Patty brought their friend, Sheryl, along with them – and I am so glad they did! She shared her autobiography with me, and it is one powerful story!

Here is the synopsis of this book:

        Guilt Shame Fear Panic Anxiety

Do these words identify you? Are you living under their influence? Is the weight of the past robbing you of your future?

Hope

A Scarlet Cord of Hope is the true life testimony of Sheryl Griffin. As God has healed her on her journey, she wants to share her healing with you. From alcoholic parents, to an abusive first marriage, to being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, chances are many of her trials have also been yours.

Sheryl has a past that hung on her neck like a scarlet cord. She now knows that what she thought was a noose was actually a God-given lifeline to His grace. Discover what Sheryl found on her journey…Love, mercy, forgiveness, and hope.

Here is the biography of this author:

Wife, mother, teacher – Sheryl Griffin resides in Franklin, TN with her husband Doug. They have two children and are actively involved in their church. Sheryl enjoys encouraging other through writing, speaking, and blogging. You can visit her website at www.SherylGriffin.com.

Here is Part One of a four-part TV interview with Sheryl; it provides some great insight into the heart of this lady who is beautiful inside and out:

In this autobiography, Sheryl shares her life story with her readers, in hope that her struggles will help impact others. After reading it, I can certainly imagine that it has and it will. She is extremely transparent about the trials she’s gone through, as well as sharing the highlights (her children, her Godly marriage, etc….). It was a pleasure to read this book and learn more about this lovely lady.

In the Introduction, Sheryl shares what she hopes for this book – ‘hope’ being the operative word:

I have felt like my life experiences have been like a series of puzzle pieces. I did not know what the final puzzle would look like, but I knew that I needed to put the pieces together to bring order to my life. The goal of this book is to honestly examine each piece as an individual and with God’s help, put them together.

This is not a book complaining about my childhood or being a victim. This book is not meant to tell every aspect of my life. The events, situations, and experiences I tell about are what I feel propelled me into PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder], panic, and anxiety. It was not one event for me; it was a lifetime of events, circumstances, and people. As I look back I can see each of these situations as threads in my life, threads that are not necessarily strong on their own but woven together they create a cord that hung firmly from my neck. The threads, scarlet in color, signify the guilt and shame I felt over certain situations and events in my life. (pp. xii-xiii)

I loved the fact that each chapter ends with a section entitled ‘What I Know Now.’ One point in particular that she makes is very important for everyone to know:

There are many red flags or warning signs of abusive relationships. Here are eight that are important not to ignore:

·         One person pushes for a quick and exclusive relationship

·         Is jealous/possessive

·         Blames others for problems or mistakes

·         Makes others feel responsible for their feelings or choices

·         Has unrealistic expectations

·         Angers easily…leaving you feeling like you are walking on egg shells

·         Has a history of abusing others or animals

·         Uses words, facial expressions, or physical violence to intimidate you (p. 45)

I also loved this other ‘What I Know Now:’

As my pastor, Chris Williamson, once said, “If you want to be covered by the will of God, you must choose to come under the covering and stay there.” (p. 85)

God healed her brokenness over the years. She shares how it happened for her, and for her husband, Doug; the setting for her here was a Mom’s Bible Study:

With each book we read and discussed, it seemed our “masks” were coming off. It was the first time in my life that I had openly shared my testimony. I was in awe at the other women’s response towards me. For once in my life I was seeing my sins not as a scarlet cord around my neck but as a testimony of grace and forgiveness. The scarlet cord represents the blood of Jesus washing over all of my sins, cleansing me of my sin – NOT reminding me of my guilt and shame. This was a huge spiritual turning point for me. During this time Doug created a similar group for the men. They had Bible study and prayer time. He was also sharing openly about his past. We both recognized the power of taking off our masks and walking in truth. (p. 101)

Sheryl closes out her book this way:

As I look back through all of my life I can see God’s footprints in the sand carrying me along the way. It truly is one day at a time, one situation at a time. My life today is about surrounding myself with good people who will encourage my walk with God, including family, church, and friends, keeping my spiritual armor on, being open and honest, letting my faith grow and not being afraid to stretch and grow. I also need to remember that while growing pains do hurt, in the end it is for the betterment of the body, mind, and heart. Each day is a choice to live the life God has given me to the fullest, and remembering that ultimately, I can only be responsible for my own choices and happiness. (p. 159)

I admit I had to read this book in one sitting! I started reading it before bed. When it came time to go to sleep, I couldn’t; I had to know ‘the rest of the story’!

This book is so encouraging! I would heartily recommend it to anyone who has struggled through the trials of life, or who needs to come through to the other side after a tragedy. I thank Sheryl for exposing her heart, and showing us how Jesus has restored it and continues to refine her day after day.

Here is a picture of the five of us after our breakfast meeting in Franklin, Tennessee. From left to right are Fred, me (with an unfortunately placed fanny pack under my shirt….), Charlotte, Patty, and Sheryl. That was a fun time – and I hope we can do it again!

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Westview, Inc. and generously provided by the author for review purposes.

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Sheryl has generously offered to provide a personally autographed copy of this powerful book to one blessed person!

There are several ways to gain entry:

1) Leave a comment here on the blog, telling me why you’re interested in reading this book. Please make sure to leave your email address in this format – sample[at]gmail[dot]com.

2) Follow Sheryl on Twitter. Please leave a separate comment stating that you are now following her, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

3) ‘Like’ Sheryl’s page on Facebook. Please leave a separate comment to that effect.

4) Follow me on Twitter.  If you are already a Twitter follower, that counts, too!  Please leave a new comment to that effect, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

5) Tweet the following tweet once per day:

Want hope? Win ‘A Scarlet Cord of Hope’ by @SherylGriffin from @andrealschultz. http://bit.ly/oeQlNV #giveaway Please RT!

Please leave a comment for each tweet, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

6) Visit Sheryl’s website and leave a comment telling me your favorite thing on it, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

7) Post my blog button on your blog. You can grab the HTML code on the right side of my blog. Please leave a comment to that effect, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

8) Follow me as a Google Friend on this blog; if you are already a Friend, that counts, too!  Please leave a new comment to that effect, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

9) Become my Facebook friend.  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

10) Follow this blog as a NetWorked Blog Follower after you’ve become my Facebook friend.  Please leave a new comment to that effect, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

So there are LOTS of chances to enter!  Please limit one entry per option except for the Twitter tweet option (which can be done once per day), along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

This give away is for U.S. residents only. The deadline for entry is Friday, September 2, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EST. A winner will be chosen via the Random Number Generator on Saturday, September 3, 2011 and will be contacted via email. The best to all of you!

We Have a Winner of 'Damaged Goods: Learning to Dream Again'!

The Random Number Generator has chosen a winner of Charlotte D. Hunt's 'Damaged Good: Learning to Dream Again.' That winner is......


Meredith!


Congratulations, Meredith! I pray this book will bless and touch you as much as it touched me!


For those of you who would like to read this uplifting, inspiring book, you can order it here.


Special thanks to Charlotte for providing the review and giveaway copies! You are one very special lady!


Please come back soon; more reviews and giveaways are coming!

‘Damaged Goods: Learning to Dream Again’ by Charlotte D. Hunt – Book Review and Giveaway

One of my favorite people, who I first met on Facebook, is Charlotte D. Hunt.  I had the great good fortune to recently read her second autobiography, ‘Damaged Goods: Learning to Dream Again.’ which continues her amazingly encouraging life story.   

Here is the synopsis of this autobiography:

In this follow up to “DAMAGED GOODS: An Autobiography,”  the author brings new light on the true story in which she received a desperate call from a stranger from her past beckoning her to his side in the wake of a car accident. This journey unravels the untold stories, details, struggles, secrets, pictures, updates and path of learning how to dream again in the midst of losing everything that were never included in the first book.

Based on the author’s miraculous journey into learning to hope, “DAMAGED GOODS: Learning to Dream Again” is an amazingly uplifting, funny, transforming and life-changing story of an invitation to recall her fight in learning how to dream and hope again. Concluding with a cliff-hanger ending, “DAMAGED GOODS: Learning to Dream Again” takes the reader on a whirlwind of tragedy, hopelessness, and a mother’s curse to a landing of success, inspiration, and a legacy of hope. Experience a journey to begin to dream again.

Here is the author’s biography:

Charlotte D. Hunt is a national speaker, author, radio personality, encouragement expert, founder of Dream Madly Ministries, and favorite lecturer for the First Lady of Tennessee, district attorney offices, corporate leadership and sales programs, treatment providers, Christian leadership, educators, non-profits, and women’s conferences.  For over 23 years, she has been dedicated to releasing and exhorting lives to “Dream Madly, Pursue Wildly, and Trust Completely!”

After studying music education, psychology, and vocal jazz studies in Akron, OH, Charlotte went on to teach at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory of Music and had a successful career as a music director, background vocalist, studio musician and jazz artist working and touring with world-renown performers in the music industry. Charlotte continued her career as a voice-over artist, stage and reparatory actor in off Broadway touring companies with performance in national television documentaries and commercials, radio programs, PBS specials, jingles, and internationally as a runway model.

Charlotte has triumphed over a tragic and abusive past to become a dynamic author, teacher, speaker, encourager and impacting leader of changed lives through diverse audiences around the country. Her success has been rooted in her “ability to stretch people to start believing that it is possible to dream again!”

Charlotte was recently featured on the ‘700 Club.’ Here is her story that was shared there:

Charlotte has been through a lot in her life. She takes us on the journey with her in this, her second autobiography. In the Preface, she shared something that was very powerful to me. Metro Detroit has a large outreach comprised of over 550 churches and ministries; it is called EACH – Everyone A Chance to Hear. One of the big campaigns is the 2 Word Story campaign. My 2 Word Story is ‘Hope? Hope.’ The 2 Word Story represents our life before and after we met Christ. So this passage has special meaning to me:

My journey, this book, in learning to dream again was not teaching me the steps or ways to dream after surviving a childhood of tragedy. My journey is learning to dream again was realizing I never knew how to dream because I refused to hope. It is impossible to dream dreams big enough to fail without desiring with expectation of fulfillment.

For a father who dreams of his comatose son catching and throwing a football with him again, he must have hope. For a young student who dreams of becoming a lawyer because of injustice she sees in her school, hope has to exist. For a mother who dreams for the future of her daughter in being a better woman that she was, no dream can take place without hoping, an expectation that the desire will happen. (pp. xiv-xv)

Charlotte learned at an early age that she was a lot like her mother in certain ways:

As far back as I can remember, I loved school and learning new information. My mother was a schoolteacher and loved to disseminate words, concepts, and information, so we found a strong connection in our passion for learning and growing. I would come home from grade school eager to stump her with a new bit of information I learned. Most times, she would know the answer to whatever subject I threw at her. When she didn’t know the answer, mom was quick to open my schoolbook or seek out more information from one of her resources she had on hand.

Researching, seeking out answers, and gaining knowledge in areas that were unknown were seeds for a foundation of learning that my mother instilled in me. I know my love of reading and my habit of asking questions of people and their lives was birthed from being around her. (pp. 56-57)

Charlotte’s mother (who passed away on August 6, 2006) reminds me a lot of my mother (who passed on December 24, 2004) in that they both expected perfection from their daughters:

My mother laid a foundation for my burgeoning view that performance was equal to worth and that tears, tenderness and vulnerability were negative and shameful attributes to have. She was a woman and a mother who was not able to love well. Nevertheless, she was my mother. (p. 63)

I love her description of how she came to Jesus:

The pastor continued to talk about Jesus as though he was a personal and intimate being capable of having a real relationship with us. He said that Jesus accepted and loved me but the pastor explained further about the depth of his love that caused him to die for me. The pastor’s message gave me a new perspective of Jesus that I did not understand before. Surprisingly, when the pastor asked if I believe Jesus was the Son of God and died for my sins, I shouted “Yes!” and suddenly I felt a joy I did not recall having before. I felt strange. I did not fall out or start salivating at the mouth. No angel from above came into the church to zap all my problems, worries, and shame issues away. Yet, I had the feeling that I was not alone anymore. I experienced a lightness and desire to let everyone know I was now in the family of Christians. (p. 86)

Toward the end of the book, she made a discovery about herself:

The reality is that I never lost the ability to dream, I simply gave up hope, the foundation in which we dream. In my life, learning to have a goal, knowing I had a purpose and walking through a plan was difficult. However, learning how to want to dream and live again was life changing. I am learning how to dream by joining the invitation to jump, laugh, play, fail, cry, be enjoyed and loved without attachments, earning, performance, or work. I can wake in the morning and spend my day hoping with every breath in my body, and dream so passionately that nothing can ever hold me back. It is a journey to dream madly, pursue wildly, and trust completely, but not perfectly. Interestingly, I started a ministry called Dream Madly Ministries. The focus is to motivate, impact, and exhort lives to run, play, laugh, fail, dream, enjoy and be enjoyed in spite of our past or present circumstances. (pp. 167-168)       

One of my dreams finally happened at the end of April this year, when Fred and I went down to Nashville, Tennessee for the Country Music Marathon. I knew that I would want to meet Charlotte whenever I visited Nashville again. We were able to meet Charlotte, as well as fellow author and Facebook friend Patty Mason, author of ‘Transformed by Desire’ (you can read my review here). The ladies also invited a friend of theirs, Sheryl Griffin, who is now also my friend. She is also an author; her book is entitled ‘A Scarlet Cord of Hope: My Journey Through Guilt, Shame and Fear, to Hope.’ She generously provided a copy of her book to me, and I look forward to reading her story also. Here is a photo of the five of us – Fred, me, Charlotte, Patty, and Sheryl – after our wonderful breakfast meeting.  

Charlotte recently relocated to Dallas to embark on another adventure as guided by her Lord.  I can’t wait to see what He has in store for her!  I highly recommend ‘Damaged Good: Learning to Dream Again’ to any type of reader. We have all been hurt and broken in this fallen world, and it is an encouragement and revelation to me to see how God continues to use Ms. Hunt!

I was really touched when I learned that Charlotte not only thanked me in the Acknowledgement page of this book, but also quoted from my first review on the ‘Recommendations’ page!

Charlotte’s first book, ‘Damaged Good: An Autobiography’ was one of the first books I reviewed on my blog (you can read the review here). Based on how well I was inspired by that book, I knew I had to read the sequel when I learned about it. She is currently working on her third book, ‘Dream Madly, Pursue Wildly, Trust Completely,’ which will be released this summer. I, of course, will have to read that one as well!

You can order this book here.

This book was generously provided to me by the author for review and giveaway purposes.

I have a copy of this book that I would love to pass along to one of you!

There are several ways to gain entry:

1) Leave a comment here on the blog, telling me how you ‘dream madly – pursue wildly – trust completely!’  Please make sure to leave your email address in this format – sample[at]gmail[dot]com.

2) Follow Charlotte on Twitter. Please leave a separate comment stating that you are now following her, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

3) Follow me on Twitter.  If you are already a Twitter follower, that counts, too!  Please leave a new comment to that effect, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

4) Tweet the following tweet once per day:

Win a copy of ‘Damaged Goods: Learning to Dream Again’ by @charlottedhunt from @andrealschultz. http://bit.ly/kzQ4nK Please RT!

Please leave a comment for each tweet, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

5) Visit Charlotte’s website and leave a comment telling me what was of most interest to you on it, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

6) Post my blog button on your blog. You can grab the HTML code on the right side of my blog. Please leave a comment to that effect, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

7) Follow me as a Google Friend on this blog; if you are already a Friend, that counts, too!  Please leave a new comment to that effect, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

8) Become my Facebook friend.  Please leave a new comment to that effect.

9) Follow this blog as a NetWorked Blog Follower after you’ve become my Facebook friend.  Please leave a new comment to that effect, along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

So there are several chances to enter!  Please limit one entry per option except for the Twitter tweet option (which can be done once per day) , along with your email address in the sample[at]gmail[dot]com format.

This give away is for U.S. residents only.  The deadline for entry is Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EST.  A winner will be chosen via the Random Number Generator on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 and will be contacted via email.  The best to all of you!

‘Transformed by Desire: A Journey of Awakening to Life and Love’ by Patty Mason – Book Review

I love it when the Lord directs me to a book that captures the love He has for His people, and conveys it very well. That book is ‘Transformed by Desire: A Journey of Awaking to Life and Love’ by Patty Mason.

Here is the synopsis of this touching book:

          What Are the Desire of Your Heart?

What do you yearn for? What are the longings that you ache to fill? What have you kept buried within your soul that needs to be uncovered?  The journey of a lifetime begins with desire. Desire that will stir your heart and awaken your soul. Desire that will thrust your life into new levels of meaning and purpose. God longs for you to open your heart and mind. To ask – seek – knock, to take a journey of longing and desire. God has implanted desires within you; let them come alive with new life and love. Dare to dream; dare to embrace the truest desires of your heart. Dare to answer the question: What are the desires of my heart?

Here is the biography of this author:

Patty Mason is an award-winning author, speaker, Bible teacher, women’s ministry leader, and the founder of Liberty in Christ Ministries. For many years she has been teaching and inspiring women of all ages through her writings and her talks. Patty has reached audiences all over the world through Sisters on Assignment, Christian.tv, CWebtTV, Sermon.net, and WLGT Blog Radio Live. Beginning in August, 2010, you can view her weekly program on the SOA channel every Friday on Light Source.  

Patty lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and children. She is also the author of the Bible study, Know That I AM God, and the devotional, God’s Heart: Drawing Close to the Heart of God.

Patty shows us how Jesus wants us to spend a lot of time with Him, and be in an intimate relationship with His children. She begins the book by including ‘A Prayer for Our Journey.’ Here is a portion of it:

With each of you in heart and mind, I pray that you will experience a spiritual awakening. I ask for each of you to be given eyes to see and ears to hear all of what Christ desires to communicate to you. May you not close this book untouched or unchanged. Earnestly, I pray that the Holy Spirit will use the words in this book to woo your heart in new ways, paving the way for a turning point in your relationship with Jesus. May you be granted glorious revelation and abundant wisdom to grasp how wide, how high, and long, and deep His love is for you.

It is important that we understand the answer to the question, ‘What are the desires of my heart?’:

I pondered the question; and the more I thought about the possibilities, the more excited I became. Suddenly my mind began to fill with thoughts and dreams. Like a powerful wave crashing on the shoreline, the desires of my heart began to flood my soul. Some were childhood desires I had long since forgotten, others were fresh; still they were longings I had never shared with anyone. It was a secret part of me just waiting to be shared with anyone. It was like a secret part of me just waiting to be revealed. Until that day, I had no idea how I had repressed the desires of my heart; but now, God was touching a place within me that begged to get out, to be set free, to spread its wings and fly. (p. 2)

In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus invited us to ask-seek-knock:

Ask-seek-knock. I love these intriguing words, because they awaken desire. They invite you to come and open your heart and experience the promise of something more. When God created you, He implanted specific desires in your heart that only He could fill. He longs for you to open your heart and ask, so that He can help you discover those desires, bringing them out into the light of His love. For example, in the story of the two blind men, Jesus said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32). Jesus already knew what these men needed, but He wanted them to express their desire to receive their sight.

Just like these blind me, you, too, need to express to Jesus the desires of your heart, even the ones you may have kept buried since childhood. Jesus longs for you to open your heart and offer Him your deepest desires. Like a little child, He beckons you to come and freely give Him that part of yourself. (p. 5)

The Lord’s reaction to your request will vary from person to person:

For some, once they made the decision to ask, seek, and knock with their whole heart, the transformation came rapidly. For others, the changes and revelations came slowly – more gradually. That’s ok. Don’t get frustrated. Christ knows your heart, and He understands the longings of your soul. Give Him the room to move freely; unhindered and without any preconceived notions of what this journey is supposed to look like, or how it will turn out. Let go and let God reveal to you the desires of His heart, as He births the desires in yours. (p. 9)

Patty’s prayer life has changed dramatically as He has drawn closer to Him:

Now, unlike before, I long to meet with God every day in prayer. I don’t come out of obligation, but out of the love in my heart, simply desiring to be with Him. Once I understood what God desired to receive and how He longed to share times of closeness with me, my attitude about prayer changed dramatically. As a result, my prayer life increased in volume and passion; this new approach deepened the bonds of relationship between us to unparalleled levels of intimacy. (p. 26)

We do have the freedom to reject Him, but it comes at a price:

If you are not taking time to nurture a loving relationship between yourself and the Lord, you are robbing both Him and yourself. Ask the Lord to help you to be creative with your time. Set up regularly scheduled appointments when the two of you can meet privately. Allow Him the access to your heart that He deserves and craves. Permit Jesus to fill your heart with His love (see 1 John 4:19). When you come to Jesus and allow Him to fill you and care for you, you then will begin to receive the wholeness that you so desperately crave. (p. 36)

As do many of us, Patty suffered from a deep depression. Her relationship with the Lord rescued her:

When I was going through the depression, I lost hope. I felt like everything had been taken from me, and I was completely alone. No one understood; and no one could help. And in that make-it-or-break-it moment, on the day I was planning on committing suicide, I cried out to the Lord in complete desperation. Then, without warning, like a knight in shining armor, Jesus heard and answered my cries for His healing hand. In the blink of an eye, He graciously and mercifully healed me from the darkness that had consumed my life. And when I came out of that pit of depression, I came out a different person – zealous and so utterly grateful for what God had done for me that I gave Him my heart and began to return His love (see Psalm 116). (p. 45)

We must not allow our past hurts to stop us from falling in love with Jesus:

Don’t be afraid. Do not be one who cannot seem to draw near to Christ because of fear of rejection, past hurts, or bitterness. Remember, only Christ Jesus can fill the needs, true desires, and longing of your heart. Only He can fill the emptiness and bring satisfaction to your soul. When you are alone with Him, totally submitted to Him, restorative healing begins, and little by little you become whole. (pp. 66-67)

As she grew more in love with the Lord, Patty’s eyes opened:

For me, new love was stirring my heart as passion gripped my soul. I went from what I would call a good relationship with God, to where I simply fell in love with Jesus. From that moment on, I began to feel alive. Suddenly, everything was better. I began to look at the world around me with the inquisitiveness of someone young at heart (see Matthew 18:3). Now, unrestricted in my new adventure, I began to see things I had never seen before. The whole world simply came to life.

The trees and fields began to dance before my eyes, as if they were moving to the music of the wind (see Isaiah 55:12; Psalm 96:12-13). Streams of water began to sing to me as they traveled along their path, shimmering and reflecting the light of God as the water swayed to the rhythm of its journey (Psalm 98:8). And the voice of the birds became sweet as they seemed to sing the tune of my heart (see Psalm 40:3). (p. 91)

We need to learn to look at ourselves as the Lord does:

When God looks at you, He no longer sees your sin and unworthiness. When God looks at you He sees the blood of Jesus. Jesus took your filthy rags and exchanged them for His robe of righteousness and garment of salvation. You are righteous because He is righteous. You are worthy because of His sacrifice. When God see you He sees the sacrifice of Jesus and He calls you, “Beloved.”

What you think is how you live. If you believe you are unworthy, then these feelings will keep you from experiencing what God desires to shower upon you. Stop looking at yourself. It’s not about what you’ve done; it’s what He’s done. Focus on Jesus and what He has done for you – that is what will bring you the greatest freedom (see John 8:34-36). (pp. 112-113)

Another desire of God for us is to be set free. We need to be aware of how the enemy tries to prevent that:

Another area that delayed me in the reprogramming process was believing the lies of the adversary. Be informed, and learn to recognize the tactics of the enemy. In the early stages of new love, the enemy will try to come into the picture by attempting to distort the relationship between the bride and Bridegroom by bringing confusion, fear, and doubt. There are many paths the enemy can take to cause the bride to feel unclean… (p. 128)

We need to be aware of bad attitudes:

Be aware of the demons of bitterness, unforgiveness, doubt, fear, disapproval, impatience, gossip, slander, rejection, criticism, a condemning spirit, pride, jealousy, false doctrine and self-righteousness that will bring about confusion and division in the church and will drive a wedge between Jesus and you.

Please indulge me for a minute; I need to vent. My heart aches because there are so many people today who are not experiencing freedom in their relationship with Christ. Thousands are suffering under the weight of oppression, depression, and other demons that have attached themselves to their precious lives. The enemy is stealing our freedom, and holding us captive; not allowing us to enjoy our God-given right to experience the life we were born again to live. (p. 131)

Another desire of God for us is that we be a Warrior Bride:

Now also understand that just because we are not told to fight the enemy, this does not mean that we do nothing. It is vital that you pray every morning, before you begin your day, to be covered in the blood of Christ and equipped with the armor of God so that you may “stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist” (see 2 Corinthians 10:14), undergirded with God’s holy truth, guarding the seat of your emotions. Beloved, the more you trust in the truth of God, the less you will suffer emotionally. The more you cling to the truth of the Spirit, the less likely you will be to take the bait of the enemy’s lies. Then ask the Lord to protect the work He has begun in you with “the breastplate of righteousness” (v. 14). Put it in place over your heart, so that you may be sheltered by His uprightness and shielded from sinful desires. (pp. 205-206)

At the end of each section of the book are spaces for Journal Responses, with thoughts for reflection, and an opportunity to reflect on ‘The desire of my heart is….’ I would highly recommend this book for personal study or to work through with a very close friend or two.

This book has reminded me how much God wants to love us and be our Bridegroom. It is obvious from what I know about Patty that she spends lots of time with her Groom, and loves Him with all her heart. She is a good friend of Charlotte Hunt, author of ‘Damaged Goods’ (you can read my review here). I hope to meet both of these lovely ladies in person some day in the future. I thank Patty for exposing her heart to us and for showing us how we can grow closer to the Lover of our souls!

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Forever Books and generously provided by the author.