God loves us and has told us so in countless ways. Yet many still have a hard time believing it. In her book, Seasons of the Heart, Macrina Wiederkehr says:
"O God help me to believe
the truth about myself no
matter how beautiful it is!"
And in the same vein, Alan Jones in Exploring Spiritual Direction observes:
"The most difficult thing in mature believing is to accept that I am an object of God's delight."
Virginia Ann Froehle agrees. She is a member of the Sisters of Mercy and is a spiritual director, retreat director, and freelance writer. This paperback was first published in 1993 and since then has sold 60,000 copies. Each of the 101 meditations includes a Bible passage, a thought-piece essay to consider, and a concluding one-line prayer or affirmation to spur the reader to action.
The paperback is divided into sections on:
• I Am Chosen by God
• God Promises Good to Me
• God's Love and Faithfulness Enfold Me
• God's Mercy Cleanses Me
• God Strengthens Me
Here is a sample meditation:
" 'In God you live, and move, and exist.' Acts 17:28
"God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. We live and move in God. We shrink from taking in this truth, believing in it and trying to live it because intimacy is so frightening. We approach intimacy with other persons slowly, testing the water, seeing if the other can be trusted with our wounds and weaknesses. We even have difficulty entrusting ourselves to God.
"Think about any way in which your life would be different if you accepted God's intimacy, if you lived in awareness of God's all encompassing presence. Think about how it might affect your relationships with others.
"For Your Day: I live and move in you."
