Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want

AHHHH! This book. This author. The people behind the book. Where do I even start? I read Bob Goff's book, "Love Does" around two years ago and found it to be incredible. "Love Lives Here" is written by his wife, so of course I bought it the day it came out. It arrived in the mail yesterday, and within twenty-four hours of starting it, I had finished reading it.The outlook on life, the lessons taught, the WAY the lessons are taught.... Everything is just wonderful and amazing and makes me want to live my life more fully and be totally engaged and not hold back. There was so, so much I could relate to with this book. Mrs. Goff is the quiet, behind-the-scenes, steadfast anchor that is necessary for their family to accomplish so much. Seeing life from her perspective was so refreshing.She talks about how God gives each of us a different place in the world - a different way to live - and when we try and compare ourselves to others or live a life that wasn't intended for us, then we will be stressed out. I can relate to that so much! I look at others who are changing the world in magnificent ways, and my own life seems paltry. But! In reality, when I live life the way God has called me to, then He will bless what I do, no matter how small it seems. Nothing else in the world could be more important than being right where God has me.Mrs. Goff talks about trust, and rebuilding, and knowing that no matter what goes on, we can count on God to make our lives beautiful when we are surrendered to Him. It's not always easy or fun or exciting, but it's always worth it."Love Lives Here" is a perfect blend of funny, serious, and downright hard. She doesn't make light of life, she doesn't gloss over hard things, and yet she talks about them in such a way that the book always lends the feeling of hope to the reader. It was beautiful. There were multiple times that I laughed out loud, there were times I wanted to cry, there were times I wanted to hug the book.Mrs. Goff's extreme honesty in the book was so special to read and made me feel like I personally know her. I could relate to her in so many ways, and I'm very thankful that she choose to write the book and share herself with so many people.I've already bought several more copies for gifts, and look forward to reading this book again before long. I highly recommend it, and am giving it 5 out of 5 stars.

Man, the very many positive reviews of this book compelled me to buy it even though I had never heard of it and was not familiar with the author. I regret my purchase. Maria Goff may be a kind, humble, Jesus-loving person, but she probably shouldn't write books.What initially drew me in: The themes of hospitality and loving your neighbor appealed to me, and I wanted to read for myself the author's insights about a meaningful life and creating space for growth. What I got instead was clumsy writing, muddy metaphors, stories that failed to draw me in, and trite spiritual application. After the first chapter, I nearly quit reading altogether, but thought, "Surely it gets better!" Unfortunately, it did not. Maria's stories would be better suited for telling around a campfire to close friends and family. Her style of story-telling (while vulnerable and honest) fails to translate well into written form and her "voice" was rather hard for me to connect with or relate to (which is saying a lot given that I, too, am a married Christian stay-at-home mom). The jumbled thoughts and run-on paragraphs were so distracting to me that if there had been any heartwarming quality to her writing, it got stuck inside the part of my brain that yearns for clear, succinct communication.In short, I was really disappointed by this book. If you are already a Maria Goff fan or if you know her really well personally, I guess I could see why you might get excited about her writing a book, but if you don't know her (and enjoy reading well-written books), then you may find this dreadfully hard to get through.

This book is one I have purchased for many of my friends as it is a beautiful reminder of the importance of being a Mom. Maria Goff does a wonderful job of welcoming us into her story-- of raising children and upholding one's marriage while remembering to welcome others in. She inspired my kitchen table with her stories and warmed my heart. I am grateful that I had this book to enjoy while on vacation with my family as it reminded me to be whimsical, create meaning and be intentional about our family time. This would be a great book for Mother's day, birthday gifts, new moms', and moms having a rough day.

I feel like Sweet Maria and I have just spent the last several days together. I'm a busy Granny Nanny to our two littles, so finding a solid chunk of time to read is not in the daily equation. That doesn't matter with this gem. It reads like our dearest of friendships .... you just pick up where you left off and keep on going. This will definitely be a well worn book in my house! A must read for anyone wanting to deepen their journey with Jesus, family and friends.

I really wanted to love this book because Love Does is my favorite book, but sadly it felt like this was trying too hard to be Love Does and not its own thing. And there were so many grammatical errors that I found myself more often looking for those than absorbing the content. Disappointing. But the author is definitely a fantastic woman and I know she will continue to do amazing things. I just didn’t experience it with this one.

If you've read the delightful "Love Does" by Bob Goff, you'll highly enjoy reading Maria's collection of personal essays (including how her smitten future husband sweetly stalked her until she dated him, and how they are entirely different yet make a great team). Maria is authentic and relatable. I appreciates how she talks about Bob going off around the world to do great humanitarian work, and how though her role as wife and mother may seem lesser in comparison, it is important. Specifically Maria talks about how she needed help in the day-to-day but didn't know entirely why or how to ask, until she saw a Help Wanted sign which she promptly purchased and put in her window to make herself have a conversation with Bob about what was going on. She is relatable, yet manages to make me want to do more to create everyday pieces of life which are deeply meaningful and full of obvious love.

Great read!

The book arrived bent and damaged. Do not have enough time to send back as it is a Christmas present.

Great read - Maria is lovely a very heart warming family orientated read

This book will not disappoint! It arrived quickly and I'm glad it did. I will be reading this book many times over. If you love this book and wish there was more, her husband (Bob Goff) has a couple books you will also enjoy.

An incredibly inspiring book! I read her husband's book (Love Does) a few years ago and it changed the trajectory of my life. This book I was able to relate to even more. I highlighted almost the whole thing. My husband read it as well and it led to lots of deep talks and discussions on how we are raising our family and what is truly important. Thanks so much, Sweet Maria, for being such an inspiring light in this world. And, for being such a wise, gentle teacher!