{"product_id":"the-right-book-at-the-right-time","title":"The Right Book at the Right Time","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Right Book at the Right Time\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335551550\":2,\"335551620\":2,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":720,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen she placed the book in my hand, I reluctantly accepted it. I did not intend to read it, but to be polite, I even thanked her. I didn’t tell her, of course, that I already planned to throw it away once I got home. She smiled, encouraged me again to read the book, and that was that. I placed the book in my backpack, making sure she saw me do it, and rode away on my bike.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat experience occurred twenty years ago, and I’m thankful that book never found its way into the trashcan, but, somehow, ended up on\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003emy bookshelf—the bottom shelf. There it sat for more than a year, neglected and forgotten. \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLife has a way of springing surprises on us, doesn’t it? The status quo can be suddenly and unexpectedly overturned. A car accident. A financial crisis. A loved one’s death. A doctor’s visit. A broken heart. It\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ecan be anything. One moment, all is seemingly well and fine, and the next moment, everything changes.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI should know—it happened to me. And, like you, I’ve seen it happen to many others. When the furniture of life is rearranged without notice, and the normal routines are rerouted into unfamiliar territory, things can get scary quickly. For me, it was a broken heart. I’ll spare you the details. But if you’ve been there, really been there, you know that the quaint phrase “a broken heart” doesn’t even begin to describe the depths and darkness of what’s happening. Feelings of doubt, insecurity, and rejection, among others, swirl and strengthen where, before, confidence, purpose, and happiness had been.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor me, a generally upbeat and easy-going person, a broken heart was entirely paralyzing. I just shut down emotionally and socially. Depression, a word I’d heard but never known, now knocked at my own door. I’d look in the mirror and, scarcely recognizing the face looking back at me, wonder if life really was worth living. After all, if life can go so bad so quickly and so unexpectedly, how could I ever feel safe again?\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne day I found myself staring listlessly at, of all things, my bookshelf. My eyes wandered over the titles. And then I saw it—that bottom-shelf book. Something seemed to be saying, take it off the shelf. I instinctively resisted, knowing what kind of book it was, but the sense persisted, and, almost without believing myself, I grabbed it.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI knew what this book would be about—or did I? \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs it turns out, I didn’t. Not at all. To say that this book turned my world upside down (or, more accurately, right side up) would be a grand understatement. I considered myself a reasonably informed and perceptive person, but this book took me by surprise. I couldn’t stop reading it. Could so much of what I’d believed up to this point really be that wrong? The short answer, and the honest answer—yes. \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo what was it? What was in that book?\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eWhy had I been so reluctant to read it in the first place? Well, it was a religious book. Hey, I know what many of you are thinking. It’s probably about the same thoughts I had when the book was first placed in my hand. Nope. Not interested. Thank you, but no thank you. Like so many, I’d been conditioned by all the bad religion in the world—religions of politics, violence, dishonesty, and ignorance. I wanted no part of it. Who could blame me? Or you? \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut what if all the bad isn’t all the story? What if something better really existed? What if God isn’t the way bad religion has painted him? What if God is believable, reasonable, and beautiful? What if history is largely the story of a conflict over who God really is? What if there are really good reasons for believing in a really good God? \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs I read,\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ethe world started looking bigger and more consequential than I’d formerly thought. My life, too, took on larger meaning and purpose. Heartbreak began to fade, and hope dawned fresh and new, casting a promising light on everything around me. Wow, what if God really is as good as this book said—or claimed? Well, it would change everything, including me.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trick, though, was being willing to hear about this God and religion thing through new ears. Why? Simply because so many things I’d been led to believe up to that point were so entirely and terribly incorrect. I learned, for example, that: \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli data-listid=\"1\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"\u003eThere are many good reasons to believe in God’s existence and goodness.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360,\"335559991\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-listid=\"1\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"\u003eGod is love in the most beautiful and profound sense imaginable.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360,\"335559991\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-listid=\"1\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"\u003eGod is completely fair and reasonable, and He isn’t the arbitrary control freak as so many have painted Him.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360,\"335559991\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-listid=\"1\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-aria-level=\"1\"\u003eThe notion that God sends certain people to some torturous place called hell to suffer for eternity is a terrible (and terrifying) lie.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360,\"335559991\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-listid=\"1\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"5\" data-aria-level=\"1\"\u003eAll the suffering and pain in the world, though often blamed on God, are not His fault or failure, after all.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360,\"335559991\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-listid=\"1\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"6\" data-aria-level=\"1\"\u003eAncient prophecies predicted the modern and unstable state of the world with stunning accuracy. \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360,\"335559991\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli data-listid=\"1\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"\u003eMisdirected and manipulative religion is perhaps the greatest hindrance to a correct understanding and appreciation of God.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360,\"335559991\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-listid=\"1\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"\u003eMy own country, the United States of America, would, astoundingly, play both a decisively positive and sadly terrible role in the history of earth. \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360,\"335559991\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book contains all this and more. It changed everything for me. Not a day goes by that I’m not thankful that this book never made it to the trash. Somehow it stayed on my shelf until just the right time. Who knows, maybe now is just the right time for you. Belief in and love for God, unlike handcuffs, are not something that can be forced onto someone else. The time must be right, and the mind and heart must be unlocked and opened. But those doors can be unlocked only from the inside. It’s a personal, individual choice. God wouldn’t have it any other way. \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI later found the woman who had handed me the book a year before. The moment she saw me, before I even opened my mouth, she somehow knew I had read the book. I smiled, hugged her, and thanked her. She just smiled back. I saw a knowing tear run down her cheek. She told me she too had been given the book. Her life, like my own, had been incalculably and positively changed. She had just passed it on.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd now I’m doing the same. \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOh, I almost forgot to tell you the name of the book! It’s called \u003ci\u003eThe Great Controversy\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIs the time right for you? I hope and pray that it is.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559731\":432,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":360}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo get the book \u003ci\u003eThe Great Controversy\u003c\/i\u003e, contact us or visit our website to order or request a copy.\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":288}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":240}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCover image: ©www.photodune.net\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"201341983\":0,\"335559739\":200,\"335559740\":240}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Giving Light to Our World","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43952241803447,"sku":"RB","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0631\/6553\/0295\/files\/Right-Book-Cover-NEW-v2-web-196x300.jpg?v=1732338609","url":"https:\/\/glowcentral.org\/products\/the-right-book-at-the-right-time","provider":"Giving Light to Our World","version":"1.0","type":"link"}