God is a big black woman.
I just finished reading The Shack, and it has called into question how I relate to God–all three of Him.
Now, I normally hate reading “God-help” books, and despise “Self-help” books. They make me feel hopeless and magnify my inability to live up to whatever standards are laid out in the book. I can count the number of those books I have actually finished reading on one finger. I only pressed through that one because it was a book on marriage and well, I was about to get married and had NO CLUE what to do. And guess what–it didn’t help.
This book is nothing like anything I’ve ever tried to read. First, it’s fiction. But as the author is wont to say, fiction and truth are not mutually exclusive. Second, it’s a good story–full of tragedy and humor and plain speaking from characters anyone can relate to. So it came as a surprise to me when I found myself weeping and laughing, having to put the book down time and again to ponder a truth newly revealed, and relating to God in a way that I have never, ever dreamed possible.
God is good. God loves me without qualification. I don’t have to DO anything to earn it. And I can’t escape from it either.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking–Duh! Many of you have heard this all your lives. But I guarantee that nobody fully and truly can believe those simple statements all the way. Somewhere, down deep in your darkest most secret place, there is doubt and unbelief. How can God really be good if he let _____ happen? How can I trust a God like that? Well, I challenge you to ask Him. This book is a good place to start.
And just for the record, I don’t really think God is a big black woman. But if he chooses to reveal himself to me in that way in a given moment, who am I to argue?