In my never-ending journey of trying to be a good Christian woman [title of my blog], I have discovered many things happening that impact our assessment and acceptance of the Lord's Divine love into our daily lives as Christian and into our hearts, especially when you consider the harried times we are living in.

In her book, "The Divine Heart," author Colette Lafia takes her readers through the discovery of seven empowering techniques in obtaining the consciousness necessary to open their hearts to receive our Lord's love.

Ms. Lafia, in the contents page of her book lists under PART II – Seven Ways: Inviting Divine Love into Your Life, the following:

1] Receptivity: Listening and Responding
2] Delight: Feeling Life's Wonders, Savoring Each Moment
3] Expansiveness: Trusting Our Heart's Capacity
4] Acceptance: Embracing Life and Who We Are
5] Vulnerability: Becoming Open Hearted
6] Mystery: Dwelling On The Mystery Of Love
7] Gratitude: Relaxing and Enjoying The Relationship

In reading this book, I found a certain uniqueness in the book's structure; Ms. Lafia did not use any scripture in communicating the book's message; instead, the author used for each of the seven topics of divine love in our lives, an interwoven collection of spiritual thoughts of religious leaders, her own personal encounters of the Lord's love mixed in with a description of the topic getting discussed in the chapter at hand. This is quite ingenious since the author has apparently written this book for Christian women with no relationship with the Lord.

Since love is a two-way street, I feel that to receive the Lord's love in our lives; we need to give Him our love as well. Given this, I can't help but recall a sonnet I had to remember for one of my high school English classes. The sonnet describes how much a woman loves her lover, which in my trying to be a good Christian woman, I'm now looking at how this sonnet epitomizing how each of us needs to love our Lord. I believe most of you who are reading are familiar with Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "How Do I Love Thee."

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

I am giving her nonreligious Christian sisters an empowering insight of the Lord's for them; I am giving Ms. Lafia 5 STARS for her this endeavor here.

NOTE: I received a print copy of this book from its publisher through a giveaway they had on GoodReads, and the above has been my honest opinion. ( )

I truly love books that talk about spirituality and growth. This book was good but i felt it lacked of something. I liked the message and the ways the author tried to explain ways to improve your relationship with God. The tasks at the end of each chapter were a bit too much i believe. ( )

Good book. ( )