The Romance of our Heart

John Eldredge continues to penetrate my heart with his insights on a sacred
romance. I feel compelled to share his thoughts with you and I continue to
urge you to subscribe to his daily thoughts below. They have been a deep
well of encouragement to me these last few weeks. This mornings thoughts
will help you to understand the needs of the heart. Enjoy...

It is possible to recover the lost life of our heart and with it the
intimacy, beauty, and adventure of life with God. To do so we must leave
what is familiar and comfortable-perhaps even parts of the religion in which
we have come to trust-and take a journey. This journey first takes us on a
search for the lost life of our heart, and for the voice that once called us
in those secret places; those places and times when our heart was still with
us. The pilgrimage of the heart leads us to remember together what it was
that first engaged us in deep ways as children: ". . . anyone who will not
receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it," said
Jesus (Mark 10:15).

Our journey will take us to explore the hidden questions of our heart, born
out of the stories of our lives. It is only by leaving home and taking a
pilgrimage that we will begin to see how our own stories are interwoven with
the great Romance God has been telling since before the dawn of time. It is
on this pilgrimage that we begin to see that each of us has a part in the
cosmic love affair that was created specifically with us in mind. Last, this
pilgrimage brings us to the destination, set within all of our hearts, which
in some way we have known, longed for, and been haunted by since we were
children.

...Our journey begins by asking questions, putting words to the movements of
the heart. "What is this restlessness and emptiness I feel, sometimes long
years into my Christian journey? What does the spiritual life have to do
with the rest of my life? What is it that is set so deeply in my heart,
experienced as a longing for adventure and romance, that simply will not
leave me alone? Does it have anything to do with God? What is it that he
wants from me? Has he been speaking to me through my heart all along? When
did I stop listening? When did his voice first call to me?"

(The Sacred Romance
<https://www.ransomedheart.com/RH_Ministries_Store/detail.aspx?ID=12> ,
10,11)

From The Ransomed Heart
<http://www.ransomedheart.com/RH_Ministries_Store/detail.aspx?ID=74> , by
John Eldredge, reading 286
Ransomed Heart Ministries www.ransomedheart.com