Pete Scazzero does a masterful job of blending principles that lead to genuine emotional health with the disciplines of contemplative spirituality in a way that can literally change your life even if you have been stuck for years and years. Let me quote from the cover of the book. "The Christian faith is supposed to produce deep, positive change, isn't it? So why doesn't it seem to work in real life? This question screamed at Pastor Peter Scazzero when his church and marriage hit bottom and every 'Christian' remedy he tried produced nothing but more anger and fatigue. As he began digging under the 'good Christian' veneer, he discovered emotional layers of his life that God had not touched--layers he had carefully tried to conceal from everyone. The resulting emotional immaturity had left him spiritually immature--and it nearly cost him everything. But for Scazzero, finally realizing the critical link between emotional and spiritual health turned the failure of his dreams into the beginning of a journey that would forever change him, his church and his relationships."
Okay, so I know that every Christian book claims to be life-transforming! But this one really is. Get this book, read it and then let me know what you think. I don't believe you can read this book with an open heart and mind and not be changed.
And now, on another note, I ran across the following as I was cleaning out some files. Call it "Reflections on Brokenness." These are all from my "Secret Place" Journal.
From December 25, 2006
Ah, Father, as I look at your face, I see how your love is indeed steadfast and constant. It is your most powerful weapon, pushing inexorably into every crevice of our lives and hearts. And it will always pursue, always reach. But it only reaches into the hearts of the broken, the humble, the soft. If we are broken, the oil of your love can seep down into the cracks. If we are soft, the oil makes a softer still, seeping down into the pores of our lives as lanolin does into leather.
Ah, Father! Brokenness seems inescapable! Second Corinthians 4:10-12 drills me with its clarity and inclusiveness. Paul's "we" here seems to include every believer, and to the degree that we can embrace "dying," to that degree we are life-bearers: "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed (manifested) in our body. For we who are alive or always been given over to death for Jesus sake (through, because of Jesus), so let his life may be revealed (manifested) in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life isn't working you." -- And all this is possible only because of what we find in the context on both sides of these verses: gazing upon your glory; and eschewing any confidence and self; renouncing shameful, and deceitful ways; incomparably great power in us; faith; daily inner renewal; eternal, unseen perspective.
And how do we live like this? Part of the answer is below from a word to me on January 16, 2007.
"Yes, little one, to whatever extent you choose to trust in your own ability or understanding, to that extent my work, my power is diminished. You cannot force anything, you can only follow. That is why Finney, Wigglesworth, and others would minister -- indeed live life -- only when they knew that my anointing was fully upon them."
May we all find the journey into emotionally healthy brokenness!Tom, the least of Abba's children.
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