This is my new favorite book!  I’ve been in an 8-week summer bible study on it and absolutely love it.  Well, most days I love it.  The content is very convicting and is requiring some serious soul searching, but it is all good!  God is teaching me quite a bit and I love that.  The gospel is presented in a new, fresh way in this book and God is using it to speak to me and many other people.

The author, Ruthie Delk, was the speaker at our church’s women’s retreat last fall.  She then returned for a one-day retreat on the same material which is where I first heard her.  I was so impacted that I bought her book that day, and when the church advertised a summer bible study on it, I quickly signed up!

The book introduces ‘The Gospel Eight’ diagram and then goes on to explain each part.  In a nut shell, Ruthie proposes that we are all either living like an orphan or a child of God.  And, we continue to move back and forth between the two.

If we’re living like an orphan, we feel defined by our pain, past, or circumstances.  We resist the gospel and are therefore separated from God.  We trick ourselves into thinking we have repented, when really we are just managing our sin.  We continue to spiral around in this circle seeking something to fill us up.  We don’t know it, but we’re seeking and CRAVING God and His amazing grace.

If we’re living like a child of God, we are defined by who GOD is.  He is the forgiver, therefore I am forgiven.  He is the provider, therefore I am provided for.  (The list goes on and on.)  By TRULY repenting of my sin I am brought into restoration with God.  By turning to God on a day to day, minute to minute basis, I am living like His child rather than spinning my own wheels trying to make something of my life.

As a Christian, we face this crossroads every day, multiple times a day.  At the crossroads will I run to the cross and be restored or resist the cross and continue managing my sin on my own?  Will I live like an orphan or a child of God?  While I WANT to live like a child of God, that is not always what I choose.

From the author…
“I was stuck. I believed the gospel changed people, but I knew it wasn’t changing me. I craved something but didn’t know what and I was miserable. My head was filled with brilliant knowledge about the attributes of God, but my heart was not convinced He even knew my name. How could I make sense out of the way I was living like a spiritual orphan and His child almost simultaneously? The Gospel Eight diagram in this book helped me get a handle on the driving force behind my spiritual schizophrenia.

Are you stuck? Tired of going through the motions? Craving something but don’t know what? Sometimes I feel the same way. We both need to be reminded of the gospel, the real gospel that brings freedom and life and hope-a gospel that is worth celebrating and sharing. The gospel that changes everything!  Craving Grace Like Chocolate will encourage, inspire, and empower you to move from a cycle of resistance, separation, and loneliness to a life of restoration and freedom.”

While these concepts are not necessarily new, they ARE presented in a new way.  The diagram is such a help in understanding this process, especially if you are a visual learner.

I am so thankful for this book and the group of women I’ve studied with over the past 8 weeks.  God has shown me things that I didn’t know even existed within my own heart.  Things that haven’t been so fun to deal with.  However, He has also shown me just how big He is and that He has given me EVERYTHING I have been craving.  If I’m willing to dig through the muck, I know I’ll come out clean on the other side.  Thank you, Jesus.

If you are intrigued and want to know more, I’d encourage you to buy the book and dig a little deeper.  You can visit Ruthie’s site here to learn more about the author and to buy the book.  And, if you’re immediate family, I might just have a copy for you.