Book Recommendation

The Story of With:
​A Better Way to Live, Love,
​& Create
by Allen Arnold

Click here for an interesting interview with the author, Allen Arnold, at The Writers Alley Blog.

"I am a child of the Creator. And as His daughter, I can't be an orphan because I am never alone."  p. 154

Allen Arnold

​This is a life-changing book for me. It's one of the best resources I've ever read to help understand God's love for me, as my Father, and how to "do" life with Him.  
​Biggest take-aways:

1) As God's precious daughter, what this love looks like from His perspective, and
2) How I can experience it now.
3) My identity in this life is not based on what I produce (do), but who's I am.

I had a difficult relationship with my earthly Dad, and while reading this story, was many times brought to tears by the illustration of the loving father. So healing... For those who want to know and understand God's love for them, and what a Father/child relationship looks like through an amazing visual story/allegory, I highly recommended this book! I will be re-reading this, and carefully pondering the many highlights I made for a long time. 

In The Story of With, Arnold introduces the concept of "Kintsugi"-- the Japanese art form of repairing broken pottery with gold. In an excerpt from the book the character Ryder says:
   "It's the art of repairing what has been shattered by infusing golden lacquer in the fractured places."
   "But that just highlights the brokenness."
   "That is the point. Rather than hide the imperfections, they highlight them by filling the cracks with liquid
   gold. They view the repaired item as even more valuable, because it is now unique from all other vessels."   
   pp. 148-149
   and
   "The Creator can put the fragments of your life and heart back together with His healing light.
   Simply give the pieces to Him."  pp.154
Wow!  I'd never heard of Kintsugi, but I love including gold paper or paint in my artwork. About 20 years ago I completed this fabric collage/paining (above) with gold paint.