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Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish
Who is Jesus

Fathered By God | Book Study Part 1: Introduction

by Way of the Heart

Discussion On A Book Study: Fathered By God

Using a current, real, and personal struggle as a backdrop, Jake and Brett start a book study about one of the most influential books in their lives, Fathered By God by John Eldredge.

Guiding Quote

“The hardest, gladdest thing in the world is to cry “Father!” from a full heart . . . the refusal to look up to God as our father is the one central wrong in the whole human affair; the inability, the one central misery.” (George MacDonald)

“You are the son of a kind, strong, and engaged Father, a Father wise enough to guide you in the Way, generous enough to provide for your journey, offering to walk with you every step.” (Fathered By God, John Eldredge)

Key Points

  • COVID-19 is creating an opportunity for creative pastoral care
  • Jake’s experience of powerlessness offers a valuable backdrop to the book and the experience of fatherlessness
  • The universal angst of every person is the struggle to believe that God is a loving Father
  • When, in the midst of difficulty, we proclaim out loud things that are true, we are changed
  • When things are difficult, don’t isolate
  • This book is like a map, it shows us the way but it doesn’t walk the way for us
  • God will allow things to be stirred up in us so He can come and Father us…if we will let him
  • Our journey is real and we need fathering

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