The Peacegiver

In my spare time, I've been trying to get this book read.

I would really recommend it. My friend Alana recommended it, so when my mom bought it, I jumped at the chance to, uh, borrow it from her! I had heard other good things about it, but it really is wonderful! It's all about a different way to look at Christ's atonement and how by doing so, you really apply it in your life. The subtitle is "How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes." It certainly isn't a quick, easy read, but most books that impact your life aren't. I haven't quite finished it yet, but I love, love, love it. I would say that it's impacted me more than any other book I've read since "The 5 Love Languages." Anyway, I just wanted to share a few excerpts. I don't claim this as doctrine in any way, however it is based on doctrine and when used correctly (aka through prayer and personal revelation), I believe it holds a lot of truths that we all could benefit from. We all can forgive better than we do, and we're all in need of forgiveness.

Ok, excerpt #1...

"Mercy can be extended only to those who are willing to extend it themselves."

"The Lord's question to Jonah is the same one he posed in the parable of the unmerciful servant, whose debt the lord - his master - had forgiven: 'Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservent, even as I had pity on thee?' the lord asked. 'And his lord was wroth,' the Savior taught, 'and delivered him to the tormentors... So likewise,' the Savior continued, 'shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

. . .

I'm going to change a little bit of the wording in this next paragraph to fit everyone, not just the character in the book.

Excerpt #2:

"Which leads me to this question: Is there any way that you are forgetting your own sins? Any way that you are failing to remember mercies that *your significant other, friend, family* has showed to you? Any way that you are forgetting the Lord? Any way that you have become blind to your own 'Nineveh-ness'? Any way that you persisting feeling entitled?"

Excerpt #3:

"Like David, he (talking about Jonah) is unhappy not because of another's sins but because of his own."

"This understanding is available merely from pondering the Savior's atonement, for no amount of mistreatment and suffering was able to take away the love of One who was with sin. By contrast, we who still struggle with sinfulness, struggle as well to cover our sins. And one way we do this, the Savior taught, is by finding sinfulness in others. The beams in our eyes get us looking for motes in others. Our own failure to love another causes us to see the other as being unworthy of love."

Again, changing a little of wording (just taking out names)

"The question for you is what sins toward ______ (spouse, friend, etc.) keep you from loving her? How are you demanding justice and therefore denying mercy? In what ways are you sitting belligerently under the sticks of your own grudges? How are you the author of your own despair?"