Please read this book and then pass it on. I'm grateful my dear sister-in-law who passed it on to me. Here's an excerpt - just one of the many that touched my soul and opened my eyes to a glimplse of who God really is.

The main character, Mac, lives with anger brought on by an abusive father and later stoked by another man who kidnapped and murdered his six-year-old daughter. He meets God after a strange note appears in his mailbox inviting him to return to a cabin in the woods close to where his daughter disappeared.

Mac to God, who is disguised as a mysterious and very beautiful woman: "So, who is it that I am supposed to judge?"

God: "God" - she paused - "and the human race... Why not? Surely there are many people in your world you think deserve judgement. There must be at least a few who are to blame for so much of the pain and suffering... Don't they deserve judgement, Mackenzie? What about the man who preys on innocent little girls? ... Should he be judged?"

Mac: "Yes!...Damn him to hell!"

God: "What about his father, the man who twisted his son into a terror, what about him?"

Mac: "Yes, him too!"

God: "How far do we go back, Mackenzie? This legacy of brokenness goes all the way back to Adam - what about him? But why stop there? What about God? God started this whole thing. Is God to blame?...Isn't that your just complaint, Mackenzie? That God has failed you, that he failed Missy? ... Then if you are able to judge God so easily, you certainly can judge the world... You must choose two of your children to spend eternity in God's new heavens and new earth, but only two."

Mac: "I...will...not...do...this!...I can't. I can't. I won't!" he screamed. "Could I go instead?... I'll go in their place. Would that work? Could I do that?"

God: "Mackenzie, now you sound like Jesus. You have judged well, Mackenzie. I am so proud of you!"

Mac: "But I haven't judged anything."

God: "Oh but you have. You have judged them worth of love, even if it costs you everything. That is how Jesus loves... And now you know ... [God's] heart...who loves all her children perfectly."

judge; blame; guilty; grace; love; forgive