Wild at Heart

This book is written for men, but there are so many things in it relevant to a woman and her issues, too! So much good stuff. My roommate Megan bought it and after she read it, she let me borrow it, and I am so glad! I feel like my faith and my understanding of men and how they interact have grown by leaps and bounds. Also, a strange thing happened while I was working my way through it...Every time I opened it, I felt a sense of joyous anticipation, and then, almost every time I put it down, I felt depressed. After the high wore off from reading whatever truth I absorbed that day, I felt a spiritual attack! When I realized what was going on, I knew I must be onto something. This became especially clear when I read the section on spiritual warfare. In Chapter Nine (A Battle to Fight: The Strategy), John Eldredge tells a story of a church staff meeting he attended: "A friend of mine raised the suggestion that some of the difficulties they were facing might be the work of the Enemy. 'What do you think?' he asked. 'Well, I suppose that sort of thing does happen,' one of the other pastors replied. 'In the Third World, perhaps, or maybe to thwart a major crusade. You know...places where cutting-edge ministry is going on.'" Wow! As if that is not enough of a blow, John then goes on to quote C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, the letter in which the senior demon, Screwtape, advises his nephew Wormwood to keep his existence a secret from his human project. This, to me, was an eye-opener.

Another section that got me was the part regarding the false self, wherein John says, "Too many Christians today are living in the old covenant. They've had Jeremiah 17:9 drilled into them and they walk around believing my heart is deceitfully wicked. Not anymore it's not. Read the rest of the book. In Jeremiah 33:3, God announces the cure for all that: 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.'" Why is it so easy to forget that? Why is it so hard, sometimes, to forgive ourselves after God has forgiven us? This is one of my constant battles, and when I take it to Him, He gives me peace...if I let Him. In a paraphrase of John Eldredge's words, we are involved in a civil war between our true selves, the part that reaches for God and His desires, and the false self, the sinner who pulls us down when we give in to him (or her). This was a revelation for me, and I hope it touches someone reading it.