Quotes in book for upcoming retreat/class

Periodically my degree program requires for students to take these classes that are more or less spiritual retreats. We do have books to read for them and usually there is some kind of minor paper to write when they are over. But the purpose of them is to be reflective and rejuvinating for the participants, which is a really good thing especially for people in the counseling field. Learning about and diving into how messed up people are can be very overwhelming.

Anyway, I have one of these such classes this weekend, and in preparation for it I was reading one of the required books today and came across these thought-provoking quotes:

"Genuine transformation requires vulnerability. It is not the fact of being loved unconditionally that is life-changing. It is the risky experience of allowing myself to loved unconditionally. Paradoxically, no one can change until they first accept themselves as they are. Self-deceptions and an absence of real vulnerability block any meaningful transformation. It is only when I accept who I am that I dare to show you that self in all its vulnerability and nakedness. Only then do I have the opportunity to receive your love in a manner that makes a genuine difference. This applies equally to God's love and the love of other people."

"The key to spiritual transformation is meeting God- in vulnerability. Our natural inclination is to bring the most presentable parts of our self to the encounter with God. But God wants us to bring our whole self to the divine encounter. He wants us to trust him enough to meet Perfect Love in the vulnerability of our shame, weakness, and sin."