I believe this, really I do. God Alone is Enough. And yet it is hard to live as if I believe. I cling to my stuff. I cling to my people. I cling to my dreams.

He is teaching me to cling to Him. He is teaching me that He is enough.

When I heard that my friend, Claudia Mair, was writing a book on St. Teresa of Avila I couldn’t wait to read it. When I realized the title, I was even more drawn to story.

St. Teresa was a contemporary of St John of the Cross. The two of them sought the presence of God in ways few do. St. Teresa endured cynicism and persecution as she wrote about her journey. Many thought her experiences with God unbelievable. Yet she persevered, longing to share her pilgrimage in hopes to draw others into intimacy with Christ, her objective to glorify the One she loved. Abandoning herself to Jesus, she spent her life in pursuit of Jesus–learning to pray and learning to rest in His presence.

I’m writing this review as a part of a blog tour, and I was assigned the last chapter of this book called The “Mysteries of the Bridal Chamber.” I entered this chapter with eagerness. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that I’ve spent several years in my own pilgrimage through the Song of Solomon, that Christ has been revealing Himself to me as my Bridegroom. (You can check out my journey by clicking on the sidebar.)

This analogy is found many places in Scripture. Paul puts it plainly in Ephesians 5:29-32. “For no man hates his own flesh, but nourishes it, and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is a profound one, and I’m saying it refers to Christ and the church” (RSV).

I think many people think of this Scripture in a distant sort of “the church–millions of Christ-followers” way. But you and I are the church. That makes me the bride of Jesus, or as the Song of Songs would say, “I am my Beloveds, and He is mine.”

St Teresa, Claudia Mair, and I have come to some similar conclusions. There is a sweet place with Jesus, a bridal chamber if you may, where intimacy with Him leaves the world’s allurements looking pale, and where we begin to long simply for our Savior.

I, for one, can’t seem to stay in that place for long. The outside world crashes in on me. I’m distracted by my needs, my wants, my work. And yet He calls to me, wooing me to come away with Him.

Some of this I like. I like the romancing–when He gives me songs in the night, Scripture in the day, a breath-taking sunset, or the scent of a rose.

But sometimes His wooing feels like stripping. The things I thought I wanted, the things I pursue, are taken from me. Dreams are left unfulfilled until I don’t need them to be fulfilled. The hard stuff of life demands my action and focus, and then one day I awaken and realize that I am more peaceful. Less driven.

More surrendered.

And beginning to understand that God alone is enough.

St. Teresa writes of incredible, beautiful experiences in the presence of Jesus. But she also talks of the journey, of the combination of joy and suffering, arid longing, and waterfall fulfillment.

I don’t pretend to have grasped the kind of intimacy St. Teresa wrote of back in the 1500s, but I long for it. I’ve tasted tiny sips of His wonder enough to believe He gives to us the gift of Himself. As I walk with Him I’m comforted by the truth that He is with me always, when I feel Him and when I don’t. When I am quiet and when I serve. He shares in my work, my pleasures, my pain.

I am comforted by St. Teresa’s words, and find they are true (even if I can’t always live as if they are):

Reading Claudia Mair’s book on St Teresa has given me a longing for more of Christ, more peace about my small sufferings, and a hunger for prayer.

I’m grateful to have been lead on this journey by my friend, Mair. A ragamuffin diva, a follower of Christ, a loyal friend whose own journey with the Beloved makes me hunger for more of Him. (The picture shows me with precious women of God, the beautiful, precious, and deep Ragamuffin Diva herself, and the dear, treasured Trusting Nomad.)

If you’ve been around the world of Christian bloggers, I’m sure you’re not a stranger to our precious Ragamuffin Diva. Blogger Claudia Mair Burney is also the author of seven novels, including the Amanda Bell Brown mysteries, and Zora and Nicky, a Christy Award finalist in 2009. I also loved her book, Wounded: A Love Story.