Sacred Storm

"I finally finished this book." I thought to myself, flipping to the last page of the Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis & John Eldredge. Then, I saw it: Epilogue. "Eh, I probably don't need to read that." I had started this book two summers ago when I first worked at Maranatha—I wasn't about to let 15 pages of afterthoughts get in the way of crossing this piece of Christian literature off my list.

"Read it, my daughter." He said.

So I did. And that's when things began making sense.

"While our heart grows in its capacity for the pleasure, it grows in its capacity to know pain. The two go hand in hand. What, then shall we do with disappointment? We can be our own enemy, depending on how we handle the heartache that comes with desire. To want [more out of life] is to suffer; the word passion means to suffer. This is why many Christians are reluctant to listen to their hearts: They know that their dullness is keeping them from feeling the pain of life. Many of us have simply not to want so much; it's safer that way. It's also godless. That's stoicism, not Christianity. Sanctification is an awakening, the rousing of our souls from a dead sleep of sin into the fullness of their capacity of life." (pg. 201)

I'm in pain because I want much from life. In fact, I want more than this life can give me. I desire to live the sacred romance.

And then the storm broke above my head.