i've taken to quotes lately as original thoughts are eluding me

Satan separates beauty from truth and thus our thirst from our religious practice and the obedience of faith...he replaces the love affair with a religious system of do's and don'ts that parch our hearts and replaces our worship and communion services with entertainment. Our experience of life deteriorates from the passion of a grand love affair, in the midst of a life and death battle, to an endless series of chores and errands, a busyness that separates us from God, each other, and even from our own thirstiness.

Brent Curtis/John Eldredge The Sacred Romance

isn't it amazing to think about how God loves us, and satan is so jealous that he will stop at nothing to pull us from the one true love of our lives. this is truly his plan, not pornography and drunkeness. those are just things he uses to maintain. if he can fool us into thinking that we are ok and that our checklist is being worked on, then he has rendered us ineffective. earlier in the book, the authors describe our relationship with God...

Have you ever dated someone and just knew, from the first time you met her, that she was the one you wanted to spend your life with? As you laughed and talked and marveled together, you felt love deepen to a heart bond that you knew you never wanted to free yourself from. And have you ever been so shocked to find one day that the one you loved so deeply and who you though loved you just as passionately, had been dating other guys and, moreover wa spending more and more of her time with your worst enemy?
Have you ever had to literally turn a lover over to a mortal enemy to allow her to find out for herself what his intentions toward her really were? Have you ever had to lie in bed knowing she was believing his lies and was having sex with him every night? Have you ever sat helplessly in parking lot, while your enemy and his friends took turns raping your lover even as you sat nearby, unable to win her heart enough so she would trust you to rescue her? Have you ever called this one you had loved for so long, even the day after her rape, and asked her if she was ready to come back to you only to have her say her heart was still captured by the enemy? Have you ever watched your lover's beauty slowly diminish and fade in a haze of alcohol, drugs, occult practices, and infant sacrifice until she is no longer recognizable in body and soul? Have you ever loved one so much that you even send your only son to talk with her about your love for her, knowing that he will be killed by her? (And in spite of knowing all of this, he was willing to do it because he loved her, too, and believed you were meant for each other.)

i know that is pretty graphic, but lets wake up and see that God loves us and desires to capture our hearts. don't give that to the enemy

have a great day
God bless
chuck
All this and more God has endured because of his refusal to stop loving us.