The Shack, By WIlliam P. Young is my new favorite book right now.
There are many that love it and give it high praise like this
"This book has the ptential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress did for his. It's that good!" Eugene Peterson
Other people are not so sure about it. There are many that have misunderstood the purpose of this book and decided that it's a dangerous book, especially for young Christians.
Well I don't agree. I feel that this book is worth reading. The caption on the front cover says "Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity". That is a good summation of the story. One important thing in reading this book is that we must remember it is a work of fiction and so the author presents God in an allegorical way. Some people may embrace this and find it very refreshing. I find it easier to let go of the preconceived ways we picture God and look at him from another perspective.
This book should be sold with a box of kleenex because even grown men are in tears as they read the moving account of a man who lost his daughter through a tragedy that brings him under a Great Sadness. This is his journey to healing.
The back cover of the book says this:
Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.
Against his better judgement he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.
In a world where religioun seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone youknow to read this book!
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And that is true. I want everyone I know to read it and to have a chance to see things differently and maybe even get some answers to their own painful questions for God.
My pastor has reccommended this book from the pulpit and he is a very learned Bible scholar. I know that this book does not go against scripture and it's truly a treasure.
Please consider reading it. Maybe you have heard about it already, maybe not. But either way, at least give it a chance. Don't get stuck in the middle of it when things get crazy. Just read on and see what happens. You never know what God may say to you while reading it.
Visit the website and learn more about the author at www.TheShackBook.com .
God Bless You and Yours.
Stacey LaMontagne
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Finally back
Well if anyone ever reads this, I hope they are glad to see that I am back. I have updated my pic and plan to post more often. I need to get back to my writing again. It is so good for me, but yet its so hard to make time for.
I just got a new Jason Upton CD today. I am so loving it right now. I am just listening and fighting the urge to break down and weep. I have been so dry spiritually lately. Seems so sad that my last post was on the "mountain of God" and now I am back in the valley. Isn't that just like life though?
I want to share what God is doing in my life cause I know HE has good things for me and I just need to draw near to Him and He will draw near to me. He is always with me. I am so thankful for that. If there is one thing I will never forget, its what a pastor told me a long time ago. He could sense I was wandering from God and told me that God is always as near as from your knees to the ground. Get down and pray and He is there. We feel so far away in our busy lives. We get so stressed and feel like life is so hopeless. SOOOO overwhelming at times.... I am sure you have been there. But the answer is so close. All we have to do is pray, seek HIM, worship HIM.
Just an encouraging word to light the way for you today. I will write more later.
God Bless You.
Let me know if there is anything I can pray for you about.
I just got a new Jason Upton CD today. I am so loving it right now. I am just listening and fighting the urge to break down and weep. I have been so dry spiritually lately. Seems so sad that my last post was on the "mountain of God" and now I am back in the valley. Isn't that just like life though?
I want to share what God is doing in my life cause I know HE has good things for me and I just need to draw near to Him and He will draw near to me. He is always with me. I am so thankful for that. If there is one thing I will never forget, its what a pastor told me a long time ago. He could sense I was wandering from God and told me that God is always as near as from your knees to the ground. Get down and pray and He is there. We feel so far away in our busy lives. We get so stressed and feel like life is so hopeless. SOOOO overwhelming at times.... I am sure you have been there. But the answer is so close. All we have to do is pray, seek HIM, worship HIM.
Just an encouraging word to light the way for you today. I will write more later.
God Bless You.
Let me know if there is anything I can pray for you about.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Mountain of God
Today I am so excited to share what God is doing in my life.
I just came back from a trip to the mountains. I have not been away from home, except for a few hospital stays, since before Ivory was born 3 years ago. In fact, the last time I left was for my mother's funeral in 2002. I was very happy to get to go somewhere, needless to say.
God has been speaking so much, I don't know where to begin. I have tried to sort things out in my mind, but this is one of the first times I have had to set down and write about it all.
Our friend that married Arbon and I is starting a church. He has longed for my husband to be a part of his ministry some day. Honestly we have been hesitant because we feel so unprepared for anything like that. Anyways, we have been praying about it to see if this is what God wants us to do. The chance to go and see the area came for us last Sunday.
It was so nice to get away. The beauty of God's creation overwhelms me at times. I feel like the mountains are so much closer to God and heaven than this dry valley we have been in. It was a time of adjustment the first few days. Ivory had a wonderful time playing with their daughter about her age. The last night we stayed there we rented the movie, "One Night With the King." That is an awesome movie, by the way. It is about Esther and it spoke to me as she showed courage in the face of certain death. I listened to some worship music, by Jason Upton, before I went to sleep that night. The next day I knew. I had been going back and forth but that morning I really felt a longing to be there.
Now tha I am home, it is even greater. I have a burden for the lost there and I want to be apart of what God is going to do. I long to have the fellowship and the chance to go into my "promised land". I had been thinking about this before I left. In our Bible study, Beth Moore talks about believing God for your promised land. This study has been so awesome to prepare me for our future. I truly believe its where we are meant to be. THere are many doors the Lord must open but I know HE will do it once we just surrender to Him and allow Him to work it all out.
We would appreciate your prayers in the coming days. Arbon is still not as convinced as I am. He is not sure that God wants to do all this. He is always fearful of disapointment and setting himself up. I am encouraging him to believe and trust.
May we all learn a lesson in this. God wants to give us good things. Let us believe Him and look for our promised land. Don't let Satan scare you away! God is greater than all our fears, and I have many. But I put my trust in my Father and He has never failed me and He never will.
God Bless You all.
I just came back from a trip to the mountains. I have not been away from home, except for a few hospital stays, since before Ivory was born 3 years ago. In fact, the last time I left was for my mother's funeral in 2002. I was very happy to get to go somewhere, needless to say.
God has been speaking so much, I don't know where to begin. I have tried to sort things out in my mind, but this is one of the first times I have had to set down and write about it all.
Our friend that married Arbon and I is starting a church. He has longed for my husband to be a part of his ministry some day. Honestly we have been hesitant because we feel so unprepared for anything like that. Anyways, we have been praying about it to see if this is what God wants us to do. The chance to go and see the area came for us last Sunday.
It was so nice to get away. The beauty of God's creation overwhelms me at times. I feel like the mountains are so much closer to God and heaven than this dry valley we have been in. It was a time of adjustment the first few days. Ivory had a wonderful time playing with their daughter about her age. The last night we stayed there we rented the movie, "One Night With the King." That is an awesome movie, by the way. It is about Esther and it spoke to me as she showed courage in the face of certain death. I listened to some worship music, by Jason Upton, before I went to sleep that night. The next day I knew. I had been going back and forth but that morning I really felt a longing to be there.
Now tha I am home, it is even greater. I have a burden for the lost there and I want to be apart of what God is going to do. I long to have the fellowship and the chance to go into my "promised land". I had been thinking about this before I left. In our Bible study, Beth Moore talks about believing God for your promised land. This study has been so awesome to prepare me for our future. I truly believe its where we are meant to be. THere are many doors the Lord must open but I know HE will do it once we just surrender to Him and allow Him to work it all out.
We would appreciate your prayers in the coming days. Arbon is still not as convinced as I am. He is not sure that God wants to do all this. He is always fearful of disapointment and setting himself up. I am encouraging him to believe and trust.
May we all learn a lesson in this. God wants to give us good things. Let us believe Him and look for our promised land. Don't let Satan scare you away! God is greater than all our fears, and I have many. But I put my trust in my Father and He has never failed me and He never will.
God Bless You all.
