coffee shop conversations

I'm re-reading Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" for the umpteenth time.

I just love the way he writes. I feel like I’m sitting across from him, and we’re just having a conversation about life, love and God… some how he manages to pause, and let me interject my own thoughts, my own journey into his words. To struggle a bit with what he’s saying, see how it plays out in my experiences; figure out ways to apply it all to me. It’s challenging to read, in the best of ways.

On a completely different note (well, not so different, because it encompasses everything): I love God.

For multiple reasons, of course. I love that He reaches through time and space into my life and speaks to me in ways I so need to hear. It’s been a rough few weeks, as all my doubts and fears about my yesterdays, todays and tomorrows keep bubbling back up to the surface. But, finally, on Sunday, I finally let a few of them go. Kevin talked at Flipside about grace and unconditional love (quoting Donald Miller, thus inspiring my reread) and the difficulty people can have with accepting it.

I do. Unconditional love is so unfathomable to me sometimes. The idea that without me doing anything, God loves. That I don’t have to change the world, change my neighborhood, even change myself, He loves me already, just where I’m at (that doesn’t mean He just wants me to stay here… there are even better places to be).

So, I’ve been thinking a lot this week about God’s love for me, and its many manifestations in my life. And it’s been pretty incredible and healing and very much needed. I feel stronger today than I did yesterday, more sure of God and His ability to take care of me, less worrisome, more peaceful.

I pray the same for all of you.