A Brief History of the Book

As for how Tears from a Lonely God came to be - it has been several years in the making, on and off. In the year 2000, I kept feeling that God was nudging me to write a book someday. This thought persisted through many of my morning devotions, and whenever I would read certain passages of Scripture I would feel as though God was trying to tell me something.

Finally, sometime during 2000 or 2001, (I can't remember the precise time), I had a dream. As I was asleep, I heard a voice of a man speaking to me, who said "Revelations 1:11." Just after I had heard this voice, I awoke, and, being intensely curious as to what the verse said, I immediately opened my Bible and flipped to the verse and read it:

"Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." -Revelation 1:11

And so, at that very instant, I knew something special had begun. All of my wondering and suspicions had been answered, and I knew that it was God's will for me to write...

What exactly I was to write would not become apparent for years. 

Finally in the summer of 2004, (several years after my initial calling), during one of the absolute lowest and loneliest times in my life, I woke up with a name for a book. "Tears from a Lonely God would make a good title for a book," I thought. And so on that day in July, I felt as though the preparations of several years' worth of God's shaping had all been brought to the surface. 

I prayed about starting this work, not wanting to force anything, and God gently made it clear to me that it was the right time. Soon, the thoughts of the first chapter weighed heavily on my heart, and I released them to paper with relief. Over the following three months, writing on and off in spurts, the entire book was written and proofread. By October of 2004 I had a rough draft to show to people.

I should add that the content of the book is unique in that it is written from God's perspective rather than man's. As for the actual inspiration, I tried to explain as best I could in the Prologue of the book, but will reiterate it here: I believe that the underlying inspiration for this book is of God. However, it's still written in my own words, and I'm sure it's not perfect. It was the best job that I could do to communicate the thoughts that I believe God had stirred in me. In no way am I suggesting that this book is to be used in place of, or in addition to, Holy Scripture.

What I think the book does well is take passages from the Bible, and things taught in the Bible about God's character and nature, and present them in a fresh and unique way that wouldn't have been seen otherwise. For example, it says in the book of Isaiah:

"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." -Isaiah 54:4-5

Here the idea of God being a husband to His people is presented. Yet what a wealth of parallels can be drawn from that one idea! - an idea that is not commonly explored, especially from God's perspective. (For instance, chapter three, Your Faithful Spouse; or chapter fourteen, A Beautiful Pair.) These are the unique perspectives that I have tried to capture with this book, and in turn to use them to encourage and uplift God's people.

Finally in April of 2006, I got the idea of putting the book online for other Christians to read; this was the founding of the current site, www.tfalg.org. I feel so blessed to be able to encourage and exhort my brothers and sisters in Christ! I can hardly describe it.

A Continuing Work

At present, this work is still not done. You may have noticed two little words in the Prologue that are without fulfillment. Here is the sentence and the words I'm talking about:

"What follows on these pages is what I believe to be the best representation, in words and images, to what I have seen and felt." (from the Prologue of Tears from a Lonely God)

The two words in the sentence above: "and images," is what I believe God has next for this work, and I believe He will be faithful in completing it in His good timing. You see, I originally had intended for this work to be illustrated! I even keep a text list of all the simple black and white pencil sketchings that I would like to insert into the body of the text within the book. However, I can only describe the pictures - drawing is definitely not my forte! (Please do not send me an email asking if you can do the illustrations - see the next paragraph below.)

So, if you have been blessed by this website, and if God ever puts this ministry on your heart - all I ask for is prayer. Oh do I ever need prayer! Please be in prayer that God would send the right person my way to do the illustrations - and complete this work. I have a general idea of who this person will be - I will know them face to face - and I am waiting on God's timing once again to fulfill His promise to me.

That is where God has brought this project to date. There is so much more I could write here, but I'll simply let the book speak for itself. I hope that it is a blessing to you this day!