Sheila Walsh - The Longing in Me: How Everything You Crave Leads to the Heart of God

Praise for The Longing in Me and Sheila Walsh

Sheila is a truth-teller, wise counsel, and a force of raw honesty in a harsh world that begs us to be perfect. This book sings of release: from unfair expectations, from my own self-condemnation, and into the arms of Jesus who has no notion of halfway love.

Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author of For the Love

We share an ache in our hearts, an emptiness in our souls. Its an emptiness only God can fillSheilas book taught me that in new and beautiful ways. Now its your turn.

Karen Kingsbury, New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including Brush of Wings

Sheila Walsh has the uncanny ability to plumb the deepest truths without sounding superficial or preachy. She touches the heart, soothes the soul, and lifts the spirit.

Max Lucado, New York Times bestselling author of Youll Get Through This

Sheila meets us with the comfort of a treasured friend, willing to ask the questions that lie under the surface of our well-displayed selves.

Jenni Catron, author of The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership and Clout

To sit under [Sheilas] ministry is to come nearer to the heart of God. Sheila is the genuine article and I am confident that all who draw near to her story, experience, and wisdom will be forever changed.

Bobbie Houston, cofounder and senior pastor of the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia

Sheila has an amazing ability to communicate the freedom and joy that are yours in Jesus, no matter who you are or what you might have gone through in life.

Judah Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Jesus Is ______ and Life Is ______

ALSO BY SHEILA WALSH

NONFICTION

Loved Back to Life

The Storm Inside

God Loves Broken People

The Shelter of Gods Promises

Beautiful Things Happen When

a Woman Trusts God

Get Off Your Knees and Pray

God Has a Dream for Your Life

Let Go

All That Really Matters

Extraordinary Faith

Im Not Wonder Woman but

God Made Me Wonderful

A Love So Big

Living Fearlessly

Stones from the River of Mercy

The Heartache No One Sees

Life Is Tough but God Is Faithful

Gifts for Your Soul

Honestly

Bring Back the Joy

The Best Devotions of Sheila Walsh

Sparks in the Dark

FICTION

Angel Song (with Kathryn Cushman)

Sweet Sanctuary (with Cindy Martinsen)

Song of the Brokenhearted (with Cindy Martinsen)

CHILDRENS BOOKS

You Are Worth It

You Are Worth It for Girls

Hello, Sun!

Hello, Stars!

Meet My Best Friend series

Gods Little Princess series

Gods Mighty Warrior series

The Gnoo Zoo series

GIFT BOOKS

5 Minutes with Jesus,

Make Today Matter

5 Minutes with Jesus, Peace for Today

Gods Shelter in Your Storm

Outrageous Love

Come as You Are

Good Morning, Lord

BIBLE STUDY CURRICULUM

The Longing in Me

The Storm Inside

The Shelter of Gods Promises

2016 Sheila Walsh

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Author is represented by the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80902, www.alivecommunications.com.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

In some instances, names, dates, locations, and other identifying details have been changed to protect the identities and privacy of those mentioned in this book.

Unless otherwise indicated Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are from the Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked THE MESSAGE are from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

ISBN 978-0718079529 (IE)

ISBN 978-1-4002-0490-8 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Walsh, Sheila, 1956

Title: The longing in me : how everything you crave leads to the heart of God / Sheila Walsh. Description: Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015034686 | ISBN 9781400204892

Subjects: LCSH: Emotions--Religious aspects--Christianity. |

Desire--Religious aspects--Christianity. | Desire for God.

Classification: LCC BV4597.3 .W35 2016 | DDC 248.4--dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015034686

16 17 18 19 20 RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated in memory of my friend and book agent, Lee Hough, no longer longing but finally home.

CONTENTS

The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through was a longing. These thingsthe beauty, the memory of our own pastare good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers.

For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.

C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.

George Eliot

IT GREW DARK AS WE PULLED ONTO THE A74, the road that connects the west coast of Scotland to Englands Lake District. It was raining quite hard, so my husband of six hours sat quietly, concentrating on the road ahead. I was quiet too. I had a terrible sense of foreboding, not what you would expect on the evening of your wedding day. Even so, I didnt see the accident coming.

All I remember now is the terrifying sound of screeching brakes and then the sickening noise of one car smashing into another, then another, metal twisting like pipe cleaners, broken glass flying through the air, caught in the headlights of oncoming traffic. Then for a moment... silence.