Looking back, I find it remarkable how easily I accepted ideas about God as substitutes for direct experience of him. It took me a long time to begin to know God through my heart and not simply my head. In my depths I longed to really know the God toward whom my heart was drawn. But all I seemed to be able to find was beliefs. I believed that God was love, and if I thought about it, I could see that this meant he loved me. But I didn’t know that love on a deep, persistent personal basis. God’s love was an idea, not a personal experience. In later chapters I will say more about how this began
...more
