“I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed.”- Ezekiel 36:26 (The Message) Should anyone knock at my heart and say, “Who lives here?” I should reply, “Not Martin Luther, but the Lord Jesus Christ.”- Martin Luther Max Lucado begins his book Grace: More Than We […]
Wounded by God’s People (Zondervan, 2013) Author Anne Graham Lotz speaks from numerous personal experiences when she affirms that the wounds inflicted by God’s people are painful and devastating. Even so, we can’t allow ourselves to reject the God of those who rejected us. Basing her book on the Old Testament story of Hagar, Anne […]
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”- Satchel Paige “Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the other person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”- C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock At the beginning of Chapter 15 (“Don’t Look Back: You Can’t Drive Forward by […]
“Then God opened her (Hagar’s) eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy (Ishmael) a drink.”- Genesis 21:19 In Chapter 14 (“I Can See: Your Valley May Be Your Vision”) of Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz tells of an eight-month […]
So he (Elijah) got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”- 1 Kings […]
God heard the boy (Ishmael) crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is the matter, Hagar?” In Chapter 12 (“A Stubborn Spirit: Exile from Him is Self-Imposed”) of Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz tells of her meeting with William, an investigative journalist who had written an article describing […]
In Chapter 11 (“The Silence is Broken”) of Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz begins with a statement that summarizes the entire chapter: “Sometimes the most valuable lessons are caught, not taught.” Anne then describes a pivotal and memorable moment in her own life. Anne was seventeen and about to graduate from high school. […]
I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.- Psalm 31:22 Anne Graham Lotz begins Chapter 10 (“God Stands By: He Hears Your Cry for Help”) of Wounded by God’s People by telling of […]
“The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.”- Exodus 20:21 In Chapter 9 (“Wandering in the Wilderness: God Is Still There”) of Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz recalls a time in her life so spiritually dry and barren that oppression and darkness crushed her spirit. Even […]
“I remember my affliction. . . the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.”- Lamentations 3:19-22 Anne Graham Lotz begins Chapter […]
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. . . . By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”- John 15: 5, […]
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins might be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”- Acts 3:19 As Anne Graham Lotz concludes Chapter 6 of Wounded by God’s People, she states that the Bible describes Hagar’s turnaround as repentance. What is true for Hagar is true for […]