Discovering the Security of a Life Held By God
God's desire for your nearness
“The single most important thing I have learned in over thirty years of study of how love produces healing is that love is transformational only when it is received in vulnerability.”
— David Benner
What if you could walk into every room knowing—deep in your bones—that you are safe, seen, soothed, and secure?
Not because of the what’s happening around you, but because the face of Jesus is always turned toward you? Always attentive. Always connected.
Many of us don't always experience this nearness or the depth of how beloved we truly are — especially if we’ve known wounding or indifference in our formative human relationships. But what if God’s presence wasn’t just a theological truth, but could be an anchoring reality?
This is what writer, artist, and soul care provider Stephanie Stewart and I talk about in this week’s Faith & Feeling’s episode. Stephanie invites us into her own journey of discovering a relationship with God that heals and grounds us.
A kind of interactive relationship that is conversational, requiring reciprocity – and just like any other relationship – a turning towards one another. Stephanie also teaches us daily practices to strengthen our awareness and attunement to God’s constant connection and care. Listen to the episode here:
Or listen to the episode on Spotify or YouTube.
One of the books that Stephanie recommends is Surrender to Love, where psychologist David Benner writes the quote above about how God’s love heals and transforms us only when it is received in vulnerability.
When I read this book a few years ago, his words stayed with me.
Love transforms us, but only when we let it touch the parts of us that feel most vulnerable, exposing something unguarded within ourselves. I’ve been reflecting on the words of Jesus that Stephanie references in the episode:
“…How often I’ve ached to embrace your children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wouldn’t let me.” - Mathew 23:37b
I want to love you, but you won’t let me.
Until we let love reach these fragile places inside, we can’t be transformed by it. And love requires consent. Not just the kind of consent that says, “I’ll take your affection.” But the kind that whispers, “I’ll let you see me.”
In what area do you feel most guarded right now, and what might it look like to let love enter this place?
Journeying together,
Taylor Joy