Rev. Deborah L. Johnson is the founder and president of Inner Light Ministries — a nondenominational spiritual community in northern California. She describes herself as "an African-American female, openly gay, civil rights activist, metaphysical minister, and MBA consultant to Fortune 500 companies." In this unusual volume, Johnson has gathered together 54 messages from God that she received beginning in 1995.

The upbeat material here will appeal to all those who are convinced that the Divine still speaks in our time and that we each must be open to receiving such communications. Johnson writes: "What should be noted, however, is that the process of receiving these letters does not make me special in any particular way. Spirit is equally available to anyone and everyone. However, being available requires that we take the time to cultivate our spiritual abilities and to commune often with our sense of the Divine."

We were very drawn to the style and content of The Sacred Yes. On these pages God speaks to the heart and is concerned about what we feel. The point is made again and again that Spirit is always very close and that it behooves us to avail ourselves of the grace that is always there. How is this spiritual virtue defined?

"Grace is outside the realm of accomplishment, reward, punishment — anything and everything that would be associated with the human process of creating. Grace is my love and provision for you simply because you are. Hear what I just said. Grace is my love and provision for you simply because you are. Simply because you are my own, my only begotten children."

Since so much cynicism and despair is rampant in our culture and in our time, it is helpful to see God referred to as the Sacred Yes:

"This is the Yes that whispers in your soul. This is the Yes that sings to you in the midnight hour. This is the Yes that cradles you when you are trembling in fear. This is the Yes that opens its arms and embraces you when you are feeling disconnected from everything and everybody, including yourself. This is the Yes that sustains you when you don't know where you are going to get the strength to take the next step, let alone finish the journey. This is the Yes that you are looking for in all of your conversations with everybody else. I AM THE YES!"

One of the most repeated quotations of the last decade is the one by Marianne Williamson from A Return to Love in which she affirming what it means to be a child of God. Here is a similar one:

"All of you are diamonds. Every time you are able to see yourself in a new perspective, every time you are able to overcome some cloud of illusion that would have you believe in the appearance it creates — every time you are able to do this, you cut a new facet on your diamond. The diamonds that shine the brithest are the ones that have the most facets cut on them — different angles turned a lot of different ways."

But perhaps our favorite message is this one on the Divine lover:

"You and your partner must have a relationship with me as well as with each other. Strictly speaking, I love a good ménage a trios; I do things in threes. I am a trinity, and you must learn how to love in a triad. You will always be in a triangle, and I will be one of your lovers. But I cannot be the 'other one,' I must be the apex of the triangle. I must be at the hub, the central force around which everything else moves. As long as you keep me as one of your lovers, you can have all the human love that you can conceive of."