I’ve just ordered a copy to send to my ex-husband in prison. He is in there for life sentence but up for parole in 2010. He hasn’t changed a bit in the 3+ years he’s been in there. I’m hoping sheer boredom will make him read the book and I’m also very curious to see what might come out of it!

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Wow, what a story, an eye opener into the mind and heart of PaPa, the Holy Spirit and Jesus. A friend gave me this book to read. I could not read a page without tears in my eyes. It was as if God was speaking to me directly through your story “The Shack”.

In the past I was always taught about the harsh God, the one who would distroy all sinners. What a breath of fresh air to see that God really loves each person no matter who they are.
Thank you and may the Lord richly bless you.

A friend of mine gave me this book at a conference last week. I am so overwhelmed by this book. God has truly spoken to me through the book. A change inside of me has occured. I feel a freedom I have never felt in my entire life. I’m sharing this book with everyone I love and even people I don’t know. God is good and loving and sharing that with others is part of what I will do now.

Thanks for writing such a non-religious book that truly shows us how to better understand God and our relationships.

Monica

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I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…

Dear Gil/Willie - I too am a Western Seminary grad (1987). I enjoyed the studying experience, but it played into my God in a box mentality. Getting an ‘A’ in a class was far more important to me than getting to know God. I am working as minister in my business capacity. I can totally identify with your question to Willie. In my case I want to give away the love the Papa has for me, but since I don’t personally sense it, I feel not only impotent but lacking in a real desire to convey what I have not experienced (even though I am supposed to). I greatly need to ‘Learn I’m Loved’.

Thanks for sharing. Jack

In your note above,
“for whatever reason, even as a child, I instinctively knew that the issue was the heart of human beings, not the character of God”.
I so wish I could say that.
Having grown up in a wonderful Christian family, doing the church thing all my life, being the good kid, never straying from the path, etc., etc. (the old performance wheel par excellence!) our theology/teaching was that as a “saved” person our heart was changed. This is true.
However, when our Mom died when I was 11 (sibs ranged from 14 to 7) and my/our world turned COMPLETELY upside down at every level, the only logical place to go was that God was not so loving. Hence the performance. ‘Don’t misbehave or He will punish you some more’ along with ‘Other (Christians) will think badly of you and hence of God’. What a deadening and toilsome burden to have borne these many years!
To know that Poppy REALLY and truly not only LOVES me but DELIGHTS in me, always, is almost more than I can imagine!
Thank you for your part in relaying the message!!

You said, “One thing that must be stated loud and clear: at no point in the process is Papa perplexed, angry or disappointed in us.”

I want to believe this. It would free me from the blanket of guilt that’s smothering my disappointing relationship with God. How can I know that it’s true? Is there scripture that says this?

For me, it came through incredible pain. At the age of 52, in the midst of the most painful year of my life, I had begun exercising my faith by choosing to believe the truth about God’s good character, His love and delight in me, and His good intentions toward me. This was all in direct opposition to what I was hearing from Satan, and from the culture I was living in. I can’t explain “how” it happened other than I found myself taking the pain of my life to God and then out of the blue these words came forth, “But I know deep in my heart that You love me. I know it, I know it, I know it.” It shocked me as I first heard these words coming out of my mouth, not because of the words themselves but because for decades I had known this intellectually, but did not believe it in my heart.

The pain has not subsided much, the unmet hopes are still unmet, but I now have an abiding knowledge, deeply imprinted on my heart, that Father God loves me. I can only say this was His doing, for which I am deeply grateful.

Hi, just want to say that I’m still young in the faith (well maybe not so young anymore - 17) but got to know a sin lurking in my members shortly after my conversion - having walked that path, started to ask God: Who are you really? Found some incredible Bible verses about God in the process and then an unfathomable journey of where regardless of what sins still lurked, I experienced His presence daily for nearly three years. Am currently in a bout with anger, and trying to see Him and His love through the red swollen eyes. It’s good to hear I’m not alone…

Dear Willie, or rather sir…I hope that you are fine. So the images in my head and the ‘voice’ responding to my thoughts with tender, gentle and encouraging stuff might be God. Would Satan be so cruel as to call me ‘My fair one’ in an attempt to get me to obey him or lower my guard? Or say things in a sweet way to trick me do evil things?

Much of what you’ve written in the book closely resemble some of my experiences, well in the sense that Father can be with me daily on a level where I experience Him and not having so much to do with what stands in the Bible?

Like you, I’ve been sexually abused as a three-year old. And because of that find it very hard to trust, anybody. The guy bought me sweets (sweet talk) before he took me to his room. My anger has turned against myself and against Father…

Must admit that Father helped me overcome marijuana addiction as well as the suicide thing, though Satan still sometimes throw that one at me (but the appeal is gone).Currently a mother of two boys (3 and 1), and battling almost daily with getting angry at God because the kids cannot understand when I’ve reached the end of myself. Going better than 6 months earlier, but still feel guilty for shouting at Him in my frustration. Must say, maybe delayed teenage, been a model kid, and deteriorating as the years go on…Can say so much more, but this will do now.

Well, me too, & several of my friends, just blown away by The Shack. It really caught me off guard (good). I’m reading it for the 3rd time, the 1st was best, but looking, looking to gain Jesus’ huge heart of love for people that I’ve heard is possible.

I asked a friend who seems to have gotten ahead of me, how she stays in the secret place. She said she thinks it’s by being a little kid - age 3 - with Jesus. She says they play & have tons of fun. I tried it -age 4. The first thing we did was burn the grave clothes from the barn where “Pop” molested me, & He gave me a cool, clean white robe that I felt really pretty in. Later we stomped on some really crummy “art” work the enemy put on my easle. Who knows what’s next?? I just hope it takes me to the heart of love, so I can give it away!!!

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I just finishedThe Shack. A friend is trying to tell me it is New Age? I am not buying that.

I lived a very abusive life. Through it all I always knew that God was my Abba Father. I told people in school that my father was in heaven little did I realize how correct I was. He used to met me in dreams as a child when things were just too stressful.

How I am 71 years old. God is still my Abba Father. I know that my mother is in heaven. I have always wondered how I would receive her there. The Shack showed me the way. The Shack showed me that the relationship with my sister is OK. I forgave her in my heart many many yeas ago, but I have no relationship with her because she is unable to except the forgiveness in a spiritual sense because she still thinks she is perfect and she has all the answers.

The book is awesome and wonderfully enlightening.

I was just wondering if anyone else who was abused had similar feelings. I have always felt that I could relate to God and to the Holy Spirit, but could never understand why I didn’t feel close to Jesus. That was always hard for me in regards to the Trinity. The book opened my eyes to the fact that the image I have of Jesus as a 33 year old man is very close to age of the my abuser so I have a hard time with that. I never put that together but had been praying before I read the book to be able to get closer to Jesus. Am working on it. Almost wish he had been in a different form in the book as well. Did anyone else experience that? Thanks

I always felt the opposite.
I felt Jesus loved me but not God?? Sounds crazy. I felt intimidated by God. I still struggle.
I have started reading The Shack and have been blown away by it already and cried.

I so want to be comfortable and relax in the presence of God,whatever that means.

What a book!! Thank you Willie.

I have been on my journey of restoration for about 20 years, and, no, it doesn’t take everyone that long! I think I must have a very hard head! My journey has led me to several different avenues of inner healing( another name for forgiveness of sins). God created and ordained the human family to be models of the Trinity with a loving mother and father revealing the fullness of the Godhead. We all know the story-the fall!!

For all of you who are having trouble relating to either Abba Father or Jesus, perhaps if you follow the path I took, you will receive insight. I too only could relate to God as the angry judge out to get me for doing any and everything wrong. Through a process of prayer I saw that I was basing my knowledge of God on my reaction and judgement
of my parents’ mode of disipline. No matter how misguided or evil our parents are we are not to judge them but to honor them. This bitter root judgement hardened my heart and as a result left me a very angry, bitter person with severe gall stones as an adult. By Abba’s grace and mercy I confessed this judgement as sin( along with many judgements along the way) and have been restored physically and spiritually.

I continue to examine the fruit that my life is exhibiting and know that bad fruit comes from a bad root and needs to be weeded from the garden of my heart.

Like Papa’s encounter with Mack, He wants us all to know that we are each the “apple of His eye” and invites us to climb into His lap and be smothered with hugs and kisses.

If all of this seems far away and next to impossible for you, just ask Papa for help. He is patiently waiting and constantly wooing you to Himself!

I finished reading The Shack yesterday morning at 6:15 AM. Woke up long before my alarm went off and almost made myself late to work finishing it up but it was worth every moment of lost sleep! One thought I had is that this book shouldn’t only be in prisons, it should be in homeless shelters and recovery shelters. Anywhere there are lost and people who feel “hopeless.”

This wonderful book gives pause for thought. There have been times where I have experienced God’s love, but I have had trouble even to dare believe it is true.

The Trinity, which I understood as part of the creeds, seems more real after reading the Shack. There is an Icon (Rublev?) of the Trinity eating together as three angels and a feminist theologian notes that the trinity is the “dancing three.”

I always believed that God just tolerated me, may be even loved me in some distant way, but never really liked me all that much. Even after all of the grace in my life, I still live like this.

My trust in God’s grace has been so small: “Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved.”

How do you work on knowing you are loved? Maybe we can’t and that’s the point.

Thank you for this book!

HArd to believe there are so many others wrecked by growing up with legalistic christianity. I thought it was just me. At 61 I’m hoping He can salvage something and here is maybe a fresh start - somewhere. Baz

WOW, I am a Biblical Prayer Counselor with a horendous background of rejection, sexual abuse, neglect, abusive religious theology and you alone can only imagine what your book has provided for me as “the next step of healing”. I have done my forgiveness processes for those who convinced me I am not loved, but my stuggle has always been with the self condemnation, the shame and guilt, the constant battle of defeating the performance trap. My ministry is Lazarus Ministries; removing grave clothes from the living; and I continue to learn, grow and heal as I offer ‘acceptance and validation’ to other wounded hearts. When I become aware of a place yet to be touched by Jesus, the Father (Papa) always provides the next process and healing agent.., your book, The Shack, has been a glorious, liberating process of releasing much inner pain and a way to actually ‘get-it’ that maybe God (all three) never intended this life pain for me, but can use it for “good”.(?) That it all didn’t ever mean I wasn’t loved by Him/Them. Your theology makes such sense; or my perception of it. I have learned and accept that evil is NOT God’s intent for us.
THANK YOU for writing the book. I truly am thankful for many reasons and count it as grace from God at a crucial time in my healing process.

There are no words adequate enough to explain the power and love in this book. Thank you for writing it - no matter whether it was written in obedience to God or to your wife! I cried and I laughed, and I cannot stop thinking about it. I’m deeply in love with the Lord, though I’ve had my own dark moments with Him and many years of experience in my own shack. I was paralyzed by a drunk driver 24 years ago - just one month shy of my 20th birthday. I’ve worked through a lot, but this book is helping me complete my shack experience. Sophia’s wisdom gave me revelation and healing.

I had an incredible near death experience when I got hurt in which I encountered Jesus and His Love. It was an experience that changed my life forever, and I cannot explain it very well in our limited human language. What I can say is this - in that encounter, I experienced His unconditional Love and Grace and it was defined by a relationship with Him as a real Person, with a real personality. I encountered Him again in the pages of “The Shack”. Your book is right on. It may be fiction, but it is true. What an incredible gift you’ve given to the world.

Thank you! Thank you! I was given 2 copies of the Shack. Did not have time to read it. I gave them out to two inmates (I am a Chaplain in a County Jail) the response was incredible. I made time to read it. Wow! I am on my 2 case of books and can’t keep up with the demand. We deal with so many broken hearts. The Shack helps with the healing….
Thank You again…

After finishing the book I still have difficulty seeing God as all loving and requiring nothing of me. I can think of multiple examples of a \”demanding God\” in scripture. I even remember when God wanted the Israelites to kill all the men, women and children of their enemies. I guess I still can\’t comprehend a God who is only love all the time, giving us complete freedom of choice and redeeming the random and cruel acts of man. A God who only loves seems weak to me (just being honest). Shouldn\’t God have \”butt-kicker\” side to Him? I have a long way to go in my relationship with Him. To comprehend this kind of loving God feels like swimming in an ocean with no land in sight - I just don\’t know if I\’ll ever get there. Is it possible that He could rescue me with His love. I would love to be rescued by His love. His unconditional love may be right in front of my face but I cannot see it or access it alone. Would He be willing to spoon feed it to me? A righteous and holy God I can somehow understand but a loving God like Papa seems too good to really be true. If it is true then my concept of God as a Principle or a Concept won\’t fly anymore. A Personal God I have heard preached and read about but it sort of scares me because I\’m not great at relationships - too messy and not quantifiable/predictable. I suppose a God that I cannot predict/control is a bit wild. In some sense abiding by God\’s rules seems easier because I know I don\’t have to perfect because of Christ\’s blood but I still try anyway. Kind of like running a race I know I can\’t win but running is comfortable and I\’ve been doing it all my life. How foolish is that? What a treadmill full of wasted time and effort. Could God really relate to me as a friend and not just His servant/creation? How could my reciprocal friendship be of any value to Him? What is it about me that He would love? I have a real hard time fathoming that He could absolutely love me. Seven billion people on this planet and He doesn\’t have to divide His love. Tozer, I know you\’re dead, but that\’s a tough one. If anyone reads this I apologize for my honest rambling. I have no intent of stirring theological debates. I could care less for religion - though the love of God I desperately, desperately need. In fact, I cry out for it. Oh God of heaven, reveal Your love for me please.

After already having a blessed relationship with “Papa, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit” . . this small book moved my heart and soul to yet another level of pure joy.

I was asked to purchase 10 more copies and share them with key people - providing an opportunity for the God Head to move more hearts and souls - these key people may not even know that they are on God’s List!

The author of The Shack is truly “chosen” to be one of His conduits. We cannot underestimate the creative lengths God Almighty - the Creator of Heaven and Earth will use as He reaches out to all of us — encouraging them to take a chance and “trust” Him.

This awesome powerful “Source” is available to all of us across the Earth - we just need to give Him a chance!

Suzanne F. - Sacramento, Califormia

I am deeply moved by the book,and thank God for time and love put onto it. I am still sad that so many people can’t see past their religious background.

To know Jesus is easier for me too. To know God is more difficult. I do want to … and is learning too. The Holy Spirit leads us into LOVE, and it cannot bypass the Father.

Thanx for giving me the freedom to pursue that relationship.

Wow! Now that is something that I have struggled with all my life. I know there are consequences to our actions. Gal. 6:7-10. But, God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I foresake you”. So there it is..a matter of trust and faith in Him to do just what he said he would do. I have lived the performance belivers life, but God has freed me from that. He also made a promise to me that at anytime I stray he would bring me back to where I should be. I now meet with brothers and sisters in a house. We believe that we are the church, that God does not dwell in buildings built by hands but in His creation. Much Love to you!!!

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I just finished reading the Shack and though I had problems with some of it on the whole I have never read anything that had more deep meaning outside of the bible. I saw in place after place the Holy Spirit speaking to me and the places in my life though I have been serving the Lord for over forty years that I have to grow in. Thank you for opeing your heart and life to such wonderful insights that this book has opened to me. I know it has changed my life for the better.

Paul,

I simply can not put into words (although I try very hard) the feelings and emotions that attempted to leap from my very soul while on the journey of reading your book. I was about to read it when I felt the need to give it to someone at my place of work…..
I want so very much Paul to have the relationship you have with Papa…. That book has shed light in the darkest corners of my soul.. I am a new person because of it.. I long to read it again, and again and again. Thank you so much for your willingness to share what was given to you.

Kevin

I just finished reading the book for the first time this past weekend. I was deeply touched by its overwhelming feeling of love. I gave my heart to the Loard at an early age but lately the realtionship has been a struggle and I feel like the love of God is undeserved. I have gone through my own great sadness losing both parents in the last three years. I really beleive the message of this book will help my to heal my relationship with God. Perhaps being led to purchase the book was part of his plan. Is there any ministry in Canada yet set up to give away copies of the book? I would like to support it if there is.

Papa Bless