I’ve been reading this book (which I found while thrifting of course) and absolutely love it! I’ve been moving, which took us the whole month of May. This is a luxury or curse, depending on how you look at it, but this made sense because we moved just a block away from the old house. It was sooooo nice to have this book to read a page or two at the end of the day in bed. I felt like I was slipping into a harbor away from the storm, with sleep and dreamland to follow shortly.

Here are some quotes from the book:

“Little children don’t learn to walk in a day. Between the time a child is carried in a parent’s arms and the great day when he is running on his own, there is a lot of hand holding, baby stepping, and falling. For a child learning to walk, falling down may not be desirable, but the lessons learned from it are.

“Similarly, before we came to the world, God knew we had progressed as far as we were able without an earthly experience. He could no longer carry us by keeping us in His presence. It was time for His children to learn how to walk on their own. That’s why He lovingly placed us here – across the room, so to speak – and stepped just beyond our reach, all the while beckoning us to come. He knew the tumbles that awaited us. He knew the ups and downs ahead. That’s why He planned from the very start to send our older brother to hold our hands, lift us up, and guide us across the room back to His outstretched arms. We left those arms crawling. We can return to them running.” (p. 19)

“Christ’s requirements (commandments) are not so that we can make the best of the Atonement, but so that –on His generous terms–the Atonement can make the best of us”

I love that he explains the verse from the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ, from 2 Nephi 25:23 which says, “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” Here is how he explains it, which is actually him quoting Stephen Robinson of Believing Christ:

“We are saved by Grace after all we can do — We are saved by grace ‘apart from all we can do’, or ‘all we can do notwithstanding.’ or even ‘regardless of all we can do.’ … ‘We are saved by grace, after all is said and done.” (p. 104)

“No matter where I am on the mountain, the motivation to climb higher is found not in trying to impress God and Christ with my sacrifices, but in letting their sacrifices be more deeply impressed upon me.” (page number forthcoming)

“[God] is bound to love me–not because I am good, but because He is good.” (page number forthcoming)

Those are just a few of the beautiful words in the book. I highly recommend it! 5 out of 5 stars! If you want to better understand what Jesus Christ offers us with His grace-filled atonement, this is the book to read. If you want more of Brad Wilcox on this topic, go here.