Nouwen kept this journal during a crisis when he was struggling with depression and doubt. These are his daily reflections that helped him move past the dark time. Good encouragement to know God and His love better, and to turn down the volume of our own fears and concerns with what the world thinks.

Garlic and Sapphire in the mud
Clot the bedded axle-tree.
Four Quartets

Anxious? Worried? Depressed? Or perhaps you’re hyperactive without a root. Paranoid when the Bad Guys are getting vague and increasingly nebulous... not able to get your act in gear due to inner unrest?

Welcome to the club. For Father Nouwen (and myself) have been there and done that. And HE’s attained the summit of the mountain (not me)!

And found his work is only beginning. BEHIND the spiritual lines, as R.J. Ellis wrote.

When your creative sap refuses to flow, read this. Read it if you’re insecure and desperately uncertain about where all your possibilities have disappeared to.

READ this if you’re an anguished human being like so many of us.

We have to quit sweating the small stuff, for starters! The small stuff is just our neurosis about being so different from our friends (hint: our reading just makes us SEE more of ourselves, so why the insecurity, guys?).

Now, Nouwen’s not entirely pleasant to read. We don’t like being ourselves. With good reason - we don’t trust ourselves - or God!

Nouwen reopens old wounds within us we thought were forever healed. NOTHING wrong with that. Maybe THAT’s why we’re afraid of Love, too...

Guess what?

Our healing process takes ALL OUR LIVES. So take your time!

No, life’s not all fun and games.

But if you’re like I was many years ago when I started reading Father Nouwen, you’ve HAD IT with what most people call fun and games.

You want to find out how to live a LIFE THAT’S WHOLE AND REAL.

Your books tell you about it left and right. And you’ve decided to STOP LISTENING to the gloomy souls that scream at you you endlessly: Give it all up!

Give it all up? Stop DREAMING?

No way.

And Nouwen says, “You’re right, kid. There IS a way. It’s long and hard, but it pays off BIG TIME. Trust me. Better yet, let me take you along with my on my Quest...

“To start with, I’ll take you back to the moment in your life when you GAVE UP on your honest, real life. That’s gonna hurt...

“Then, TOGETHER, we’re gonna unlock ALL those Deep, Dark Rooms in your soul you locked and boarded up so many years ago (now, that’ll REALLY hurt!)...

“But, just trust me, cause I’ll ALSO show you the Eldorado of an essentially FREE AND STRONG HUMANITY within you - the Power of which you’ve never even dreamed of! I’ll show you how to REALLY DREAM again, too...

“OK. You ready? The Great Quest awaits. It’s starting right outside your door. And don’t bother packing anything...

“Cause ALL you need to bring along is Faith, Hope and Love!”

And you know what?

Nouwen’s RIGHT. There IS a Great Quest.

Those gloomy, hopeless TROLLS have got it all WRONG.

And you know what else? Our DESTINATION - and our Reward - IS HUGE.

So - let’s GET MOVING.

What are we WAITING FOR?!

This is IT.

Our NEW BEGINNING awaits us.

“All the agony that threatened to destroy my life now seems like the fertile ground for greater trust, stronger hope, and deeper love.”

This quote captures the book perfectly. Theologians’ works often leave my mind spinning with complex ideas, but this book by Nouwen feels restful and meditative, yet challenging enough that it has caused me to examine the parts of my heart that have grown cold to God’s love. Through its pages, I’m reminded again and again that belief in God isn’t merely intellectual—it’s a life-altering encounter, worthy of our deepest affection and devotion.

PS - I’m not rating this book because it’s a collection of Nouwen’s personal reflections on God. I resonated with many of them and found them deeply comforting. It’s incredible to think that we each experience God uniquely, yet are drawn to the same Truth that forms faith in Jesus—a mystery that astounds me every time I reflect on it.

What a gripping book; much to reflect on here. I am looking forward to studying Nouwen's spiritual imperatives with a friend.

Un libro especial, como cada cosa que escribe Henri Nouwen. El amor y la Fe…

“No vaciles en amar, y amar profundamente. Puedes tener miedo del dolor que puede provocar el amor profundo. Cuando aquellos a quienes amas profundamente te rechazan, te dejan o mueren, tu corazon se quiebra. Pero eso no deberia impedirte amar profundamente. El dolor que proviene del amor profundo hace tu amor aun mas provechoso. Es como un arado que rompe la tierra para permitir a la semilla echar raices y crecer hasta convertirse en una planta fuerte.

Cada vez que sientes el dolor del rechazo, de la ausencia o de la muerte, enfrentas una decision. Te puedes volver amargo y decidir no volver a amar, o te puedes poner de pie en tu dolor y dejar que el suelo sobre el cual estas se enriquezca y
pueda dar vida a nuevas semillas.”

Given this was Nouwen’s journal during his dark night of the soul, some of the entries were difficult to understand without more context. However, the majority of the entries were insightful and meaningful, and a dozen or so spoke directly to my own darkness and felt like a reflection of God’s heart. “Go into the place of your pain,” “Acknowledge your powerlessness,” “Seek a new spirituality,” and “Stay with your pain” were especially powerful, like Gods voice talking directly to the places of my soul that usually stay hidden.

للوصول لهذا الكتاب، وكتب أخرى من إنتاجنا:
http://goo.gl/cnhj25
أمر جميل محاولة نشر الكتب وتوفيرها للآخرين عبر الإنترنت. ولكننا كناشرين لهذا الكتاب، لم يستأذننا أحد في نشره عبر الإنترنت، ونحن لا نوافق على نشره عبر الإنترنت الآن. لذا نرجو ممن نشره تدارك الأمر وحذفه.
خدمة المشورة والنضج المسيحي
www.arabic-christian-counseling.com

Written during a particularly difficult season of life, these "secret journal" entries were Nouwen's intimate grapplings with the love of God in his life. Each short entry is Nouwen giving himself pastoral advice.

Each entry is short but should be read - or better, prayed - slowly.

About every other page is dog-eared.

This is a beautiful book. Hard to read at times because of how hard it hit me. This is a book I recommend to read a little at a time and allow yourself to stop and ponder some of the thoughts he shares. A relatively small book so it’s “easy” to read in that sense but its profundity deserves careful, purposeful reading.

I read this years ago and didn’t enjoy it as much the first time. This is probably one that I’ll revisit from time to time. It’s broken into very short chapters, a few of which I couldn’t relate to, but many that were very profound and helpful.

Wow. Wow wow wow.

I wish I could have found this volume in my deepest valleys over the past several years, paralyzed often by depression, drained by spiritual warfare, and haunted by grief. There is so, so much light in Nouwen’s words—journaled originally only for himself during his own treacherous journey through the wilderness—beckoning us home to Jesus. But I also wonder if, in my stubbornness, I would not truly have been able to receive these truths until I had seen those dark nights of the soul through to the other side. I needed to learn such lessons the hard way, and then remain postured toward remembering and relearning, for many of our particular darknesses, griefs, sins, fears, and wounds prove to be continuous spaces of earthly sanctification.

It is alarming in a nourishing way to find that even as I can look backwards and know these lessons to be true, I can also look forward with a greater awareness of them as applied to present and future scenarios. And while the particular depth of pain may rise and fall with context, it seems we are always in need, in one way or another, of the deep well of comfort found in being honest both about our weakness and God’s strength. I resonate deeply with Nouwen’s experiences, wrestlings, and eventual (re)discoveries of spiritual rest as written here. His specific circumstances, specific fears, and specific comforts mapped almost exactly against mine, and for that manner, the ones of many other stories and people I know. That is quite wild. I am often astonished at how, though the path of each Christian is varied and unique, we are all ultimately led to the foundational Truth and truths that prismatically comprise belief and faith in Jesus. And so to recognize the Spirit in another, whatever the form of conversation (book or brunch or beyond), is such a comforting thing even as it challenges us to pursue that Spirit more faithfully, no matter how difficult the road.

What a strangely cyclical world we live in. What a faithful Lord who reveals himself in that mystery.

Whether you are presently in the midst of a blinding storm, or have now a renewed capacity to reflect on the lessons gathered from winds recently weathered, I commend Nouwen’s meditations to you.

So beautiful! I always have this on deck and read different ones on different days. A good one to pull out when needing encouragement on specific aches & gloomy days.