Day 17 → A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.

I lived a life without God and was shallow and desperate for anything that would help me out of my head. I used alcohol, shopping, marriage and work but none of them really did for me what I needed. What I was able to do (and this is ONLY because God believed in me when I didn’t believe in him) was be willing to look at other things. And again, that was only because I was working a 12 step program that kept my eye on the prize. A life without alcohol and pain; if I just tried. So I sought out books to try to fix myself and I had a friend give me The Shack and that completely changed my life.



The book was able to tell me how much God was willing to go to get me to return to him. They say to return to him but I always felt a little uncomfortable with that because it insinuates that I left him at some point. I did not willing leave a God, I just never believed in a God. How could a God let bad things happen? Why did I have to go through so much? How can God know every hair on my head? Why does he give such a damn? All of those things were answered for me in The Shack. I didn’t have to go to a priest; although I did. I could identify with the characters and the questions and concerns he had. I actually cried with him. I felt the pain and anger because it was so much like my pain and anger. And then I felt the hope and love and release. It walked me through my prejudice that I had for Christianity as a whole. Individual Christians or specially churches too; I was able to change my view that not all of them said one thing and did another like I thought most Christians were. They are still out there but not all of them are bad.



Reading The Shack cleared my mind and made me realize that something was going on around me that I could not explain away. I’m a very rationally, analytical thinker and if I couldn’t see/touch/smell/feel, it wasn’t there. But God is everywhere, not just a form of a person. But rather in all the things I could see/touch/smell/feel. I’m not going to go cheesy and say he’s in the laughter in a child and a rainbow. While I don’t doubt he is; God is in me and working through others to help me. I’m essentially a selfish person and I care how it affects me. I’ll probably never become a missionary and go thumpin’ my bible (which I do have one…one of my friends is just aghast at! ). But I have a God in my life that is so important to me. He loves me, in spite of myself. He talks to me through different people and through music. And I have someone to ask for help and he’ll give it. Maybe not on my schedule or the way I want it but it’s definitely there when I need it; he knows better than me.



I highly recommend The Shack for those that are questioning their faith and even for those that are strong in their faith. It’s actually fiction book but it was what I needed to hear and led me to a God that is love and understanding and there for me. That’s a good thing.