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Always Love: The Timeless Story of God’s Heart for the World and What it Means for You
If you've ever desired to more deeply connect with the Bible, or the God of the Bible, this book is for you!
Sometimes we forget that the Bible is actually one cohesive Story. Instead, we use it as a manual for morality, view it as a string of disconnected stories, or consult it as a compilation of theological doctrines. But in Always Love, you’ll rediscover the Bible’s overarching narrative as themes are woven together revealing a seamless story from beginning to end. After following these themes through each major twist and turn, through difficult passages normally glossed over, through narrative, poetry, and ancient history, you won’t read the Bible the same way again! And more than that, you’ll be inspired to respond to God’s Always Love for you and find your place in His Story.
Sometimes we forget that the Bible is actually one cohesive Story. Instead, we use it as a manual for morality, view it as a string of disconnected stories, or consult it as a compilation of theological doctrines. But in Always Love, you’ll rediscover the Bible’s overarching narrative as themes are woven together revealing a seamless story from beginning to end. After following these themes through each major twist and turn, through difficult passages normally glossed over, through narrative, poetry, and ancient history, you won’t read the Bible the same way again! And more than that, you’ll be inspired to respond to God’s Always Love for you and find your place in His Story.
- GenresChristian Living
329 pages, Paperback
Published October 5, 2019
16 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 20, 2019
One of those books that impactef me so deeply that it has changed my vocab in how I think and relate to God. Always Love made me think, made me tear up a few times, and definitively made me more frequently consider, "Am I letting the Author write His good story in and through my life?"
September 29, 2020
I enjoyed this rendering of the Bible story in engaging prose, which will draw readers into a sense of wonder and awe at the divine story. I appreciated reading the personal story behind the writing of this book, conveyed in the "Author's Note: Why I wrote Always Love", in which Sara Lubbers shares her journey with Bible reading, both for her daughter and her personal journey. The book is addressed to Christian believers, to whom the author writes: "He is yours, and you are His" (page 316). Variations of this phrase echo throughout the book, seemingly drawing on Song of Solomon 2:16 and 6:3. The book portrays the creator's attitude towards His creation as being described by "Always Love", and is written in such a way as to encourage believers to persevere. The author weaves in the biblical theme of "Always Wrath", recognizing that God does not love sin, and seeking to not let her preferred language terms shape her theology (page 319). Whilst a Bible paraphrase inescapably is written from the author's theological perspective, Sara seeks to let her writing be subject to Scripture. As Sara intended (from reading the "Author's Note"), this book may indeed help readers to plunge into the revelations of the Bible in an accessible way.
November 21, 2021
I knew Sara Lubbers before she was married. I knew her as Sara Scher. She was patently offensive to people. She was hypocritical as a leader often breaking her own rules.
More importantly, Sara is the type of persone who uses the Bible as a weapon to make people feel less than. It didn't matter if you were gay, struggling with pornography, or drugs. Sara found a way to "show you God's love" and make you feel like you were the problem instead of actually helping. Don't support this terrible person or her lies.
More importantly, Sara is the type of persone who uses the Bible as a weapon to make people feel less than. It didn't matter if you were gay, struggling with pornography, or drugs. Sara found a way to "show you God's love" and make you feel like you were the problem instead of actually helping. Don't support this terrible person or her lies.
October 23, 2024
LOVE LOVE LOVE this book! Have given away multiple copies. Have read myself multiple times as well.
Reminder that Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are ONE person AND ALWAYS LOVE. EVERYTHING they do is expressing LOVE toward us and drawing us toward THEM. Also ties the story together Genesis through Revelation.
Reminder that Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are ONE person AND ALWAYS LOVE. EVERYTHING they do is expressing LOVE toward us and drawing us toward THEM. Also ties the story together Genesis through Revelation.
April 11, 2020
Well done!
Great and easy way to get the stories of the Bible. I pray this book will give the readers the desire to dig into the Bible and get the full impact of God's love, wisdom, and plan to redeem all people for a deep and true relationship with Him!
Great and easy way to get the stories of the Bible. I pray this book will give the readers the desire to dig into the Bible and get the full impact of God's love, wisdom, and plan to redeem all people for a deep and true relationship with Him!
February 23, 2020
I dont have a photographic memory but I hate reading the same thing over and over. It makes studying the Word challenging because it often can feel like blah, blah, blah...Ive read that before. It takes discipline to move past that. Reading different translations that are more poetic like the New Living Translation, The Passion Translation and The Mirror Translation make reading the word exciting and fresh again. Additionally, there are some authors who have a way of making scripture sound brand new. Sara Lubbers, author of Always Love, is one of those. I am blown away by the creative prose for sure, but more than that I am caught off guard by the way my heart responds to reading about "the dance" and the warmth I feel when the Author's Always Love is expressed. Its like my DNA was made to be swept up into this story and my DNA leaps just at reading the words. I'm not trying to be dramatic. Perhaps you've felt this same thing in another way. That feeling that rushes over you when you know you were made for "this" or for "something better." Perhaps you are a parent and you look in your kids eyes and know suddenly that your entire reason for living is to love and shape your childs life. Perhaps you are a teacherx a nurse, a preacher, an accountant, and when it all works like its supposed to, you walk away feeling like you have purpose. Thats how I feel when I read about the dance and His Always Love. Like a cat taking a nap in a sunny window, I want to crawl up in the warmth of that Always Love. I am only on chapter 4, but wow it is really good so far!
October 20, 2019
I loved this book. I know the author, and Sarah comes shining through in these pages - she cares for her readers and wants us to experience God's love through the true story he's created for us.
I used this as a devotional. The chapters aren't long, maybe 5-10 minutes of contemplative reading (not speed reading), but the 53 chapters cover lots of material in the Bible. She points toward Jesus in the Old Testament stories. She includes tidbits of history that you won't know from just reading the Bible passages the stories are based on. While the writing may be more stylized than you expect for a devotional, the language is beautiful and helps bring out major themes throughout the book: God's Always Love for all his image-bearers, God's Always Wrath against sin, and God's role as the Author of a story we can't write any better for ourselves, no matter how often we try.
Things are in transition for me. While reading, I kept reflecting on how God invites us to love sacrificially rather than be in control. It's so easy to let sin slither into our thoughts and choices. I'm grateful for the reminder of who God is, what he keeps doing for us, and who he's made us to be.
I used this as a devotional. The chapters aren't long, maybe 5-10 minutes of contemplative reading (not speed reading), but the 53 chapters cover lots of material in the Bible. She points toward Jesus in the Old Testament stories. She includes tidbits of history that you won't know from just reading the Bible passages the stories are based on. While the writing may be more stylized than you expect for a devotional, the language is beautiful and helps bring out major themes throughout the book: God's Always Love for all his image-bearers, God's Always Wrath against sin, and God's role as the Author of a story we can't write any better for ourselves, no matter how often we try.
Things are in transition for me. While reading, I kept reflecting on how God invites us to love sacrificially rather than be in control. It's so easy to let sin slither into our thoughts and choices. I'm grateful for the reminder of who God is, what he keeps doing for us, and who he's made us to be.
October 20, 2019
Wow! I really recommend this book! It does all that the description says and more. Sara (the author of this book) did an amazing job tying together even some of the most confusing parts of the Bible and clearly presenting the timeline of the story.
More than that though and best of all Sara has beautifully captured the most amazing and stunning part of the story, God’s heart. Written with faith in the truth as it is and loads of cultural and historical context, Jesus’ astounding and costly love for us shines brilliantly through this entire beautiful work of art. All of the other people through out the story are so relatable also. The story form is better than a novel too. I really have not found another overview or survey that is even close to this one.
Whatever your background is and whatever amount of knowledge you have of the Bible, from knowing nothing to being a theologian, I really think this book will bless you and draw you closer to the heart of God while challenging you to dig deeper, I know it did all that for me
More than that though and best of all Sara has beautifully captured the most amazing and stunning part of the story, God’s heart. Written with faith in the truth as it is and loads of cultural and historical context, Jesus’ astounding and costly love for us shines brilliantly through this entire beautiful work of art. All of the other people through out the story are so relatable also. The story form is better than a novel too. I really have not found another overview or survey that is even close to this one.
Whatever your background is and whatever amount of knowledge you have of the Bible, from knowing nothing to being a theologian, I really think this book will bless you and draw you closer to the heart of God while challenging you to dig deeper, I know it did all that for me
October 21, 2019
I loved this book. It is one of those books that I will always have two copies of so that I can lend/give one copy away and still have one on my shelf. I don't bestow this honor upon a book lightly.
I read through this book as a daily devotional but I look forward to rereading it out loud with my family as we marvel at the Author’s story together. It beautifully retells the seamless story of God’s Always Love for us through both the Old and New Testaments. Similar books tend to shy away from less popular or difficult sections of the bible but this book identifies the unchanging traits of God even in the most difficult to understand books of his Word (I’m looking at you, Leviticus!) I found myself reading stories that I had read before but in a way that so obviously revealed the true nature of God. I’d often ask myself as I read “how had I not seen that before?” Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to understand what the bible is really about.
October 13, 2019
I have loved reading Always Love. This book is a beautifully written retelling of key stories in the Bible that provide the overarching biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation. This book would be a really accessible way for someone who is just beginning to read the Bible to place individual passages in their overall context, but even for someone who has studied the Bible for a long time, this book helps give a fresh perspective and new words for familiar stories. The chapters are a short, manageable length that allows the reader to read as many, or as few as he or she desires in a day. I know this will be a wonderful resource and companion book to our family’s Bible reading from now on.
October 20, 2019
It is easy to separate the Bible into sections - Books of Moses, History books, Wisdom Literature, Prophets, Gospels, Epistles and so on. Sara Lubbers reminds us through this vividly written book, however, that God's narrative fits together as one, and the thread she uses to tie it together is the theme of God's Always Love for us. I found reading this book a life-giving, worshipful experience, where God's heart is articulated in fresh and creative language. It is both a meaningful read for yourself, as well as a great gift-idea. Worth ordering early for Christmas? I have!
November 5, 2019
This book talks about the most amazing love ever, the love of our creator. I love it because it takes the Bible and applies key stories and shows the overarching story of how God is always loving us and always pursuing His creation. If you ever felt unlovable and like you don't matter, this book shows who you are and a good father that wants to reconnect with you. You need to get this book in your hands, and i hope it encourages you and shines light on your purpose and how to embrace the best love of all!
October 18, 2019
This book beautifully brings an intriguing narrative form to the Bible while maintaining Scriptural truths. It is a great tool for gaining a comprehensive view of God’s Word and seeing the Gospel truths found all the way through. We just ordered 75 copies for our community of believers, and we can’t wait to see how it will encourage and increase understanding of the beauty that is to be found in the Bible!
October 20, 2019
The God of the universe redeems sinful people! Always Love demonstrates how the books and stories within the Bible weave together to support one grand story. Always Love progresses through the Bible chronologically telling the Bible’s stories in an engaging, articulate manner. I was moved with gratitude to worship God when I would pause at the end of each short chapter. Well done!
October 17, 2019
Written in a way that sticks with you. I highly recommend...it’s a refreshing breath of air and the way this author brings to life stories in the Bible while highlighting God’s love for His people throughout all of it is beautiful. This definitely won’t be my last timing reading this book!
October 28, 2019
Beautifully written! Loved it! Couldn't put it down! Captivating.....I love how the stories in the Bible are woven together...always pointing to God's Faithful Love! Highly recommend to all!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews