A Read That Will Change You... Or At Least Changed Me
Originally, I chose this book because of its tag line, “You Believe in God. You’re trying to serve Him. But do you know how to truly love Him and let Him love you?” This attracted my attention because, I was in a college group who used a similar line to encourage our leaders. Our Director would always say in our meetings, “Do you love Jesus? Are you letting him love you?” To be honest, I didn’t always know how to answer that. Was I really loving Jesus? Did I know how to really let Him love me? Well, Heart Wide Open seemed like a perfect way to find out. Now to be honest I took a year to read this book. But let me be clear. This is not a poor reflection on this book but rather a great one!
Shellie Rushing Tomlinson has done a great job in writing a book that quickly becomes more of a conversation between the two of you. It could actually be a pretty quick read, but it is filled with so much truth that if you truly decide to allow the prayers at the end of each chapter to change you it requires more than just a cursory read. It took me so long to read “Heart Wide Open” because I decided to let the rich information is in the book help me invoke change in my own life to help me really live a life with my heart wide open rather than just reading about it. Shellie, (You end up on a first name basis with her by the end of the book), invites you to truly evaluate your position with the Almighty and to find the vulnerable, desperate side of you that wants more from your Creator and to expose that part of yourself with the end goal of receiving more and becoming even more desperate for more of Him.
This book will, if you let it, open your eyes to places in your own life where you can grow to Love Christ more or can make changes to deepen your relationship with Him and make it more REAL rather than routine. If you happen to pick up this book and don’t even know who this Jesus is, this book is still for you. Shellie presents the Truth of who He is and His character elegantly throughout the book. Her mixed use of scripture, paraphrase, personal anecdotes, and radical truth, if given the opportunity, will shake you into a more real and honest relationship with the God you worship. I highly recommend this book to any girl who knows there is more about Jesus she wants to discover because this book will give you the tools, thoughts, and prayers to help you ask for and receive just that. So I guess I will leave you with the line that drew me to the book in the first place, “Do you know how to truly love[ Jesus] and let Him love you?"
I received this book for free from the publisher’s Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.
