Every human being needs love. Love has motivated some of the most courageous and noble actions; the absence of love has, perhaps, been responsible for the most unspeakable acts of cruelty. The search for love often involves struggle. Many are haunted by nagging questions they rarely dare to ask. Do I matter to anyone? Is my life significant? Does anyone really love me? Though they may not know it, these people are desperately in need of what author Stephen G. Post refers to as “Godly love.” In his new book, GODLY LOVE: A Rose Planted in the Desert of Our Hearts,Post educates readers in the ways of God’s unlimited love, inspiring them to embrace it and pass it on to others.

“Godly love is the one thing in this universe that is fully reliable and worthy of our deepest trust, no matter how much hardship or heartache enters our lives,” Post states. “We encounter disappointment and loss in our fleeting lives, times of exhaustion when we have no love of our own to give, either to others or to ourselves. It is in these deserts that Godly love can plant a rose in our hearts. As it is written in Isaiah 35, ‘The desert shall rejoice and blossom.’”

Post has been researching and writing about topics such as unselfish love, compassionate care, kindness and altruism for over thirty years. He is the president of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, a non-profit that promotes research and discussion between theologians and scientists on the subject of agape love. He has discussed Godly love on venues as diverse as ABC’s “20/20,” Michael Feldman’s NPR show “Whad ‘Ya Know?,” and Robert H. Schuller’s “Hour of Power.”

GODLY LOVE: A Rose Planted in the Desert of Our Hearts communicates the beautiful attributes of God’s love with a gentle sincerity that will convince readers to begin letting go of the anger, bitterness and hatred in their lives in favor of the love that will make them flourish. Godly love is a phenomenon that must be experienced to be truly understood, but Post provides several memorable examples of the people he has met who best demonstrate its transforming ways. He recounts how the influence of some prominent African-American ministers shaped his view of Godly love. He shares anecdotes of time spent with Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the hospice movement, and with Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche (“The Ark”) homes, facilities located worldwide where volunteers dwell with the disabled in communities of faith, prayer and Godly love.

GODLY LOVE has drawn enthusiastic praise from Dr. Robert H. Schuller, founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. “Of all the books on love that I have been exposed to in my lifetime, I have never read a single one so profound, so intelligent and so concise in economy of words. Stephen Post is a renaissance man whom I admire profoundly. This is a book that will become the classic statement on what we in the Christian tradition know as agape love, revealed completely in the life of Christ.”

For Post, the prospect of a life devoid of Godly love is a tragic one. “Some have said that God is dead. I say that God is not dead, but without Godly love, we are,” Post says. “We all deal with the stress of life. And we all have times when we feel more or less imperiled. We all try to maintain a positive outlook on life, especially when we are hurting. We all strive to transform through love the vengefulness and callousness that threaten to overwhelm our capacity for forgiveness and compassion. Yet we need something more powerful than our human capabilities to free us from the negative emotions that rob our lives of meaning and hope.”

The transforming power of GODLY LOVE will make hearts soft and new again and can help bring healing to broken relationships. This gift book will encourage and enlighten readers of all ages. For organizations wishing to show appreciation to their supporters, GODLY LOVE makes a great thank you gift.

Visit www.unlimitedloveinstitute.org and www.GodlyLoveProject.org for more information.

GODLY LOVE: A Rose Planted in the Desert of Our Hearts © Copyright 2011 by Stephen G. Post. Reprinted with permission by Templeton Foundation Press. All rights reserved.

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