B.A.M., A Shack, and a Novel in Black and White

I suppose I must explain to you where this sudden burst of excitement and joy has stemmed from (especially in my last post). I told you how God met me at Books-A-Million but I didn't really tell you how it all began. . . It was a sunny, yet chilly day in Central Florida. I had just come from a visit with a friend in Lakeland, FL with her book by Claudia Mair Burney, Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White. It was a more than a novel of race relations and religion. It was my first real awareness of my need to step off the cliff with God, and to truly begin the Faith and Love relationship that both God and I had been clamoring for my whole life. I read that 400 page novel in 4 hours. I sat in my bed reading and relishing every experience, every heartache, and every triumph. I knew the characters were fictional, but I also knew that those experiences with God were more than real. They are essential. Now that I've said that, I must go into what happens next. . .I am still in a state of relative dizziness from digesting and regurgitating and digesting Mair Burney's book again, when I am introduced to yet another novel: The Shack by William Paul Young. I was by no means prepared for what God, or *smile* Papa as He is endearingly referred to in the book, was doing. He met me for a book club meeting in The Shack at B.A.M. I died, He revived me. Now I die daily and He keeps bringing me back for more of Him and I can't get enough. I met God in my chair and He told me how especially fond He is of me. Sometimes it's so overwhelming that I revert to my old ways because I can't handle it. He wants me! And now I want Him more than I've ever wanted someone in my existence(I'm willing to venture that it was Him all along). More than my spouse, more than my parents, siblings, my own kids and I know that I'm the better for it. God, You know I mess up more now than I ever thought(or maybe admitted) I did before, but I'm in the safest place to fall: Your grace. It's beyond mere belief. It's a real love relationship that is so much deeper than I could ever have asked for from a human, and ever expected from a God who I now know is madly in love with me ;0) If you haven't had a chance to check out these books I actually recommend both of them. I do shameless plugs hence the link on the sidebar for The Shack and the link to http://ragamuffindiva.blogspot.com by Claudia Mair Burney that I just added :0) Papa bless all of us on our journey to really know Him (and by virtue of a genuine relationship, really,really LOVE him) for who He is and not what "institutions" have made Him to be. . .