The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life We Always Dreamed of by John Eldredge

The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life We Always Dreamed of Reviews

• 
  Gela

  THIS WAS A POST SENT TO ME, From
  Alexandria If you’re going to give a book one star, maybe include at least one reason why. You’re just talking about yourself here.
  
  Thank you mom!
  
  
  IM SO GLAD THIS LADY FELT IT WAS HER RIGHT TO SEND ME A POST OF WHAT TO DO & TOOK TIME OUT OF HER DAY TO TELL ME.
  
  Since when are we not allowed to talk about ourself or how things make us feel?
  
  
  
  I've had this book for years... Needless to say I believe people break away from church because we are made to fear God plain and simple. I don't know how I feel about this book. It's not for me. Maybe I'll pick it up again later and like it. I've been known to do that.
• 
  Peter Holford

  This book was given to me but sat for some months unread - the introduction and opening chapter just didn't resonate. I just wasn't sure where it was going. I put it aside. Some time passed and then I decided to flick through it again, and fell upon the title of Chapter 6: 'The Divine Thwarter'. Interesting concept. Who thinks of God in this way? What kind of God might thwart our efforts and intentions - especially if they are good and wholesome and altogether reasonable? Reflecting on the last 15 years, there are times that I have felt thwarted. I decided to read the chapter.
  
  In this chapter, Eldredge explains that in our efforts to secure 'the dream' here on earth, in this lifetime, we tend to make idols of things here which distract us from loving God as we should. We pursue things which, truly, hold only 'a false and imaginary happiness'. Ironically, many of these 'idols' are good things in and of themselves. Sometimes they are even ministry-oriented. He writes: 'Most of our idols also have a perfectly legitimate place in our lives. That's their cover. That how we get away with our infidelity' (p.80).
  
  Wow. This is a challenging concept, but resonated enough with me to get me to read the book in its entirety, from the start. It was still not a straightforward read: it is in someways deeply counter-cultural and requires a certain degree of honesty and a readiness to dig deep. It will only appeal to readers who have reached a stage in their life journey where they are aware of deep, unfulfilled longings in their hearts and encountered a certain degree of disappointment with life so far. Don't read this book because you enjoyed Eldredge's bestseller, Wild at Heart - you may be disappointed.
  
  I'm glad I read Desire, and have indeed found it useful in reflecting on my own life journey. I won't endeavour to explain it to you, but will give you a couple of quotes which, for me, are significant in summing it up.

  "There are three things that we must come to terms with in our deep heart. First, we must have life. Second, we cannot arrange for it. Third, it is coming."

  
  If this is a little enigmatic for you, then that's okay. For me, I return the book to the shelf resolved to be a pilgrim, not an arranger, and ready to embrace the mystery of life rather than always seeking to possess and control.
  
  The book remains, however, hugely life-affirming and hopeful. Readers who are able to enter into the central ideas, will appreciate how this second quote encapsulates a major theme:

  "Life is a desperate quest through dangerous country to a destination that is, beyond our wildest hopes, indescribably good."

  
  The book is rich in quotations from classic philosophers and writers such as Pascal, George Eliot, Dan Allender, Larry Crabb and Thomas a Kempis plus favourites such as George MacDonald and CS Lewis. I would have appreciated some more detailed referencing or, at least, a bibliography, so that I could read further.
• 
  Ryn

  I did not like this book. I did, however, love another one of his books; "Walking with God; Talk to Him, Hear from Him" . I believe timing of reading them in my life had everything to do with liking one book; not liking the other. I must be fair.
  
  I read this book while single, while going through some challenges at work with the certainty of the position I was posted in as temporary (hoping for permanency). I was in a new city, trying something different. I thought this book would help me. I was not happy as I read along, but hoped by the end I felt better. I didn't. I felt that the steps I took to make my dreams happen were contrary to the suggestions the book gave for me. I felt conflicted as I read it.
  
  It isn't written poorly, or without thought. Not at all. I just felt like my dreams weren't happening and I was not thrilled reading about the search for our dreams and the longing that is unfulfilled. I didn't like the book, but will assume it was because it hit a nerve, versus being a bad book. I wonder if I re-read it now, having achieved the dreams I was struggling to achieve when I read it, if I would look back and go, 'ahhhh, yes', I understand now. Maybe. But I don't think I'll re-read it; there are too many other books I would rather read.
  
  
• 
  John Neece

  There were elements of Eldredge's book that I loved. Yet, I sometimes found myself thinking he was going over the same things again and again. Also, I disagree with some of his philosophy. I absolutely loved Wild at Heart but didn't like this book as much. One portion of this book I did love was when Eldredge talked about our forgetfulness when it comes to God and the need to keep remembering.
• 
  Andi

  John Eldredge’s The Journey of Desire is a book that met me right where I needed to be. The basic premise of this work is that people need to recover their desires, their true desires, and go after them. For believers, that means we need to thirst for and long for life with God that we also need to follow those desires that are given to us - our vocations, our passions, our loves. . . Wow, did I need to be reminded of that. As Eldredge points out, so much of life tells us to deaden our desires, to just get through the day, to make it work out, to survive . . . we stop yearning for things because it hurts when we don’t get them (or when we don’t get them right away), and when we stop yearning, we are not living fully into the lives God has given us.
  
  Yep, that’s it . . . that’s what I need to be reminded of - that the true desires I have (not the wishy-washy desire to eat more Girl Scout cookies or to nap all day) are from God, that they are things laid into my very nature by the Creator, by the one who redeems, not ruins. And then, I also need to remember that I need not strive or orchestrate to get the things that I desire. God has it all under control and if I simply live the life I’m given and love God through it, the things I desire will come to me. Sometimes this seems so hard because sometimes the things I think I want are not really the things I want in the deepest part of my self; sometimes, too, the things I do want are a long time coming. . . but here, then, is where I must learn to trust that these things will come at the right time? Now, to do that . . . well, that’s must harder . . .
  
  
• 
  Bethany

  I tend to rate books on how much they'll be memorable and continue to change my life after I'm done reading them.
  
  I read part of this book and then returned to it. I don't recall a whole lot about the first 3/4, but the last quarter of the book made it well worth it for me.
  
  Eldredge talked a lot about desire and how God created us with a restless longing for him. I've spent a lot of my life shying away from desire, thinking it wrong, or wrong in an unmarried season of life, at least. Eldredge contributed to God's healing of my heart on the subject: purity and desire can coexist. They can and they do. He says our choices are to be addicted, to be alive and hungry, or to be dead. I'll take alive and hungry, thankyouverymuch.
  
  Toward the end, too, the book focused on being ever mindful of God and our need for him. How quickly we forget, because we have replaced so many of our innate God-desires with other things. The book calls us to refocus, to reprioritize, and to heal our idea of this restless desire God has put within us - to rid ourselves of deadness and addiction and to live "alive and hungry" each day. Even so that's just a glimpse of the life that is to come.
  
  Powerful in the end.
• 
  Sarah House

  There are some nuggets in this book but I found it generally very difficult to read with all the excerpts from songs, poetry, Shakespeare, and various other authors of old heavily dispersed throughout it. Also, I was disappointed that the story of the sea lion just ended with a glimpse at hope, but no actual conclusion. I would have given up on this book in the first few chapters had we not been reading it together as staff!!!!
• 
  Amberjoy

  It is allowing me to question why I put things away in my heart and focus on the mere survival of life. I am starting to challenge myself in either living out my desires (stemming from who God created me to be) or grieving those desires that will never come to be. What an eye opener.
• 
  Zena

  right now- just amazing
• 
  Claire Johnson

  What a beautiful journey Mr. Eldredge took me on this winter. I would consider myself a pretty passionate person, but I was taught more often than not that the Christian way is a logical focus on apologetics or illogical focus on “faith,” but either way there was little room for all those emotions I had. My desires, too, I was taught to see as a snare in the journey to “seek first the kingdom of God,” which I was taught to see as a command that good Christians should just eagerly await singing in heaven forever.
  
  I don’t know if you were ever taught anything this stifling, or if you grew up chasing every whim and fancy without a second thought. Regardless of where you fall on the “desire-acceptability spectrum,” Eldredge has wisdom and grace to speak to your heart about desire: what it is, the pain and fear that can come from mishandling it, and the absolute beauty and life that can happen in truly living it as God intended. Reading this book felt like taking deep breaths of pure air that went straight down into the capillaries of my soul and heart. Even as I was reaching the final chapters, I found that my newfound understanding had so reoriented my perspective on life, that a previous constant struggle in my life did not plague me at all anymore; I knew how to handle it in a way no self-help book or sermon had ever taught me. It was that life-changing for me. I will be returning to this book to read again someday, and in the meantime will be recommending it to everyone I know.
  
  
  My only complaint is, *spoiler* we never get to hear if the seal makes it to the ocean!
• 
  Fernando Pasquini Santos

  Um livro que falou profundamente comigo em uma época muito oportuna. Talvez eu possa descrevê-lo como uma versão expandida de "Peso de Glória", o meu artigo preferido do C. S. Lewis, embora contando também com a forma e estilo de escrita de pastor americano (mas não por isso algo ruim). Eldredge demonstra de várias formas belíssimas que a vida cristã consiste em ansiar constantemente por aquilo para que fomos criados: um relacionamento íntimo com Deus em um mundo criado perfeito para nós e que demonstra seu amor e cuidado. Sendo assim, a batalha fundamental do cristão encontra-se no coração, e sua luta é contra a tentação de deixar de desejar - seja porque achou que já encontrou aquilo que deseja (idolatria e vício) ou seja porque preferiu o caminho da resignação, cinismo ou niilismo. Viver no anseio (ou aquilo que Lewis chamava de "alegria inconsolável") dói, como toda a criação que geme e suporta angústias, mas é o melhor a fazer. Como disse Chesterton, em uma citação do livro: "a verdadeira felicidade é que nós não nos encaixamos". Ou, como orou George MacDonald, também citado no livro:
  "When I can no more stir my soul to move,
  And life is but the ashes of a fire;
  When I can but remember that my heart
  Once used to live and love, long and aspire -
  Oh, be thou then the first, the one thou art;
  Be thou the calling, before all answering love,
  And in me wake hope, fear, boundless desire."
  (George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul)
• 
  Šarūnė

  4.5
  Nieko nėra blogiau nei būti pusšiltiems šiame pasaulyje. Dažnai kaip krikščionys mes esame skatinami nenorėti daugiau nei duota, taip užmetame visus savo tikruosius troškimus į tą ,,tu čia per daug nori" kategoriją. Autorius skatina išbūti nepatogumuose, sielvarte, kuris išvalo ir atneša pilnatvę bei troškimą; pažiūrėti, kas slepiasi už didelių baimės akių, ten giliau, nuo ko mes bėgame. Ir pagaliau p a s i i l g t i kažko daugiau ir to siekti visa savo širdimi.
  ,,Matote, skirtingi keliai veda į skirtingas vietas. Norėdami surasti troškimų žemę, turite leistis į troškimų kelionę. Ten nepateksite jokiu kitu būdu. Jei norime leistis į kelionę, turime atgauti širdis, kas lygu atgauti troškimą." (160 psl.)
  ,,Tiesa tokia, kad daugelis iš mūsų gyvename atitrūkę nuo savo širdies. Mums reikia su ja susipažinti, mums reikia sužinoti, ko mes iš tiesų norime." (164 psl.)
• 
  Matthew Caton

  Wow. Just wow. Not very helpful review, but, wow! Such a powerful book. You should read it!!
• 
  Aneta Jackowska-Musiol

  I couldn't really focus on what the book is about. I think I was expectig something else.
• 
  Heather

  The book is beautifully written and had several things I highlighted, but cannot fully recommend or give 5 stars because he recommends some steps that are not spiritually healthy and also the concepts get muddied and he takes the gender thing a bit too ridiculously far (see his other book captivating.)
  
  the book however does have some beautiful excerpts on Heaven, idolatry of the heart, and the beauty of desire.
• 
  Dorothy Mihailiuc

  I knew about John Eldredge and read some of his other books. He never seems to stop surprising my. The way he writes.. it’s like he’s in front of you, at a coffe table just chatting- sharing ideas. Soo good. The topic, how it was addresses. Everything about it. My fav quote “ still something in me knows that to kill desire is to kill my heart alltogether”
• 
  Matt Mobley

  I really enjoyed this book and this author. His book Wild at Heart is 1 of my favorite books ever. I do not see eye to eye with everything this Christian author writes. I do enjoy his uplifting books and when I read them, I feel like I have heard an inspiring church message.
• 
  Kristian Kilgore

  I will not soon leave behind some of the impressions that this book made on me. Eldredge didn't cover very much new territory in Desire, but his approach made it a very personal book in it's delivery. So much of the book, other than the wonderful draw of quotes and illustrations, came across like a conversation with a counselor or friend.
  
  A good portion of the book's inspiration is drawn from the death of a good friend of the author and from that grief Eldredge dives into an exploration of the desires of our heart. Why are they there? Why are they so strong? Can we trust them? Will they ever truly be fulfilled? What do we do with them until they are?
  
  The last several chapters laid out a wonderfully honest treatment of the perpetual longing that we will live with in this life, and then an encouraging challenge to not blunt those longings, but stir them up and let them drive and motivate us to pursue the Author of all true desire. The avoidance of a simple answer endeared me to Eldredge, helped me feel out just what he was saying, and also connected my heart with the message of the book.
  
  In a poignant quote Eldredge almost summarizes the theme of this book:
  
  "The fact is, at this point in our journey, we have only three options:(1) to be alive and thirsty, (2) to be dead, (3) to be addicted. There are no other choices. Most of the world lives in addiction; most of the church has chosen deadness. The Christian is called to the life of holy longing. But we don't like to stay there." (p 200)
  
  I recommend this to anyone, those with questions about the void that we all feel from time to time, and those with current questions (as that is a possible indication of callous in our soul). It reads fairly quickly, his use of quotes is inspiring and tweetable, and his content is meaningful.
• 
  Stanton

  The analytical side of me feels like this book is kind of ADD. In that though there is definitely a lot to be gleaned from it. The last three chapters and the chapter intros with the sea lion looking for the sea to me are the most important parts of the book. There is a deep yearning in all of us and most don't really know what to do with it. This book seeks to explain some of that and inspire us to move past the hurt and embrace the love and grace that Christ offers us.
• 
  Johan Taljaard

  Re-read it. The most beautiful book I’ve read in my entire life. I can‘t properly fathom the words to describe the effect this book has had (and still has...) on me. Go and read it yourself, you’ll see what I mean.
  
  A word of warning: You will never look the same way at “joy”, “grief”, “disappointment”, “desire”, “hope”, “heaven”, “eternity” and “longing” again. It changed me - permanently and unalterably - for the better.
  
• 
  Jane

  It's really a hard work on part of the author to come up with such an excellent book. It does dig the very core of human's desire - the need to live in accordance with God's will and ways which so often bombarded by the world's enticing offers for a better life. This book reminds me to desire for the best and what is worthwhile in this once given life.
• 
  David

  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed and resonated with what was in this book. Eldredge's main point is that we are generally scared to listen to and live out of our deep desires. It's easier to distract ourselves than to feel and be let down. However, desire is a key part of the Christian life as it humbles us and causes us to admit how desperate our situation really is.
• 
  Jon

  This is a faith-based self help tome, which is not my typical cup of tea. But a friend recommended it and my wife enjoyed it, so I thought I would try it. I liked how it used scripture and it definitely made me think about my relationship with God.
• 
  Justin Camp

  Many of us have become so disconnected from desire that we’re unable to even talk about it. All we can express is what our culture tells us we should desire—larger bank accounts, better jobs, bigger houses. John helps us reconnect to our true hearts and to the desires God’s placed within them.
• 
  Ron

  Another in Eldredge's series about getting real with your heart.
• 
  Andria

  This book gives me renewed hope...
• 
  Karina Harris

  John Eldredge has become one of my favorite Christian authors. I started this one awhile ago, and lost it (sorry to say)...recovered it recently and picked right back up where I left off.