Excerpt: How I see God shapes how loss affects me. If I think God took my love, I won't bring Him my hurt. If I think God should be enough, I'll feel guilty if He’s not. He won’t shame me for grief. He’ll grieve with me.

Excerpt: If the loss of love breaks your heart, don’t hide your pain or minimize your loss. God doesn’t. Nor does He try to take the place of your loved one. No one can. Not even God. But He'll take His. Beside you. If you let Him.

Excerpt: I'm glad God loves me. But I also want love with skin on! Yes, this want could eclipse my desire for God. Yet He wired us for love and said it isn't good for man to be alone. So He hurts for us whenever we are.

Excerpt: If a truth is true for all of us, it's no less true for each of us. If God 'so loved the world', He 'so loves' you. As much as He loves His Son. And that's a lot! Can even God love all of us deeply? Uniquely? Ask a Mom.

Excerpt: From a Dad after dropping his son off at college. 'I have plenty of everything - except Mike and in parental math, 5 minus 1 doesn’t equal plenty.’ God feels this. There is a place in His heart that only you can fill.

Excerpt: Anyone ever misjudge your motives? I do it to God. Like a child, I think 'No' means 'I don't love you'. Yet He says it because He does.  I weep assuming He doesn't care. He weeps because He does.

Excerpt: What did God do after making man? What we do at Christmas. As our kids look at gifts, we look at them. We light up as they do. But if they lose their awe, guess who feels the loss? Our apathy affects God.

Excerpt: There are many ways to lose you. I lose you if you die or leave. I lose you if you stay but your heart leaves. If you won't hear my heart, I lose you.  Since I love you, it hurts to lose you. It hurts God to lose you too.

Excerpt: Indifference is like hypothermia. If I sleep, I die. Yet it's all I want to do. If you love me, don’t let me! Pull me to warmth! It’s why God pulls on us. Our hearts need the fire of His presence. Far more than we realize.

Excerpt: My head knows God cares and watches over me. Why can't my heart rest in that? Why do I worry? As if finding a solution will let me rest. But God offers no solution. He offers Himself. That’s what good fathers do.