Today I’m going to tell you about the last of the three books I picked as the most life-changing for me so far. I was nervous to write this episode because the book is controversial in some circles, and even I was afraid to read it many years ago. I expected to confront all kinds of lies and heresies (this is what I was taught at my church!)
Instead, I found permission to believe in a God big enough, powerful enough, and loving enough to actually win. I found in its pages what it would truly be like to lean into the God I believed in as a child.
Key Takeaways:
- God’s love shouldn’t come with fine print: Somewhere along the way, many of us were sold “God’s love plus a lot of caveats” like what to wear, what to say, who to vote for, and what to read, instead of just love.
- The people most triggered by God’s love are often Christians: whenever I post about God’s love on social media, the harshest pushback comes from people who identify as Christian. Fascinating, right?
- Questioning what you were taught may help you learn new things that take you deeper in your relationship with God. Hopefully our journey is about always learning and growing, not just having all the answers.
- Judgment can be restorative, not just retributive: What if true judgment is about having everything that was stolen from you (like your dignity, your security, your identity, your health, your dreams, your children) RESTORED to you again. If it’s just about punishment, how is that amazing? People can do that. Can God do more?
- “I could be wrong about that” is a doorway, not a threat: One of the biggest shifts in my life was moving from certainty to curiosity because certainty closes the door to learning, and humility opens it.
Read Love Wins by Rob Bell
🎁 I want to give you a free gift. It’s the audio version of my book, All the Scary Little Gods. It’s a spiritual memoir about healing from religious trauma and toxic programming. You can listen to it FREE by going to scarylittlegods.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.
