Friday, February 28, 2014

Book Review: A Transformational Read

B&H Publishing Group provided a complimentary copy of the featured book in exchange for an honest review.
     Have you ever wondered if you are praying properly? Or serving Him well? Or are doing enough? You just know if you do one more thing in the name of God you will have found what has been missing from your spiritual life. For whatever reason, you are always running after God, running after religion.
      Angie Smith knows this all too well. Instead of enjoying God, she found herself chasing him, diving in to religion and in the process was coming up dry. In her new book, Chasing God, Smith encourages the reader to stop grasping for straw and instead grab a hold of God, our sustenance, He who is substance. Religion can be confining following rules, making checklists and exhausting oneself. Yet, God doesn't want us to add another "to-do" for us to be holier. He wants us to seek Him for the purpose of resting in His glory, to know Him a little more intimately and embrace His extended hands. God wants us to enjoy Him for who He is, not what we want Him to be.
     This was another book that was placed in my hands at the needed moment. I began feeling empty and closed the book with a renewed sense of longing and hope in my spiritual life. Smith validates feelings of doubt and other feelings we are shamed to acknowledge during our walk. It is easy to think if we are experiencing a lull in our journey than we aren't doing enough. However, it may be we are doing too much and missing God. What it comes down to is an understanding that what we are chasing may not be there, but what is may far exceed our expectations. In His abundance we can be fulfilled.
      Chasing God is an experience to be had, not a book to skim through. We are blessed to have authors, such as Angie Smith, gracing our shelves with a vulnerability and candor that is accessible, a pen that soothes and words which inspire. I simply couldn't put this book down. I wanted more. I needed more. The greatest aspect of Smith's work is she doesn't prescribe more rules on us or another set of miraculous self-help steps. She uses her journey as case in point and draws upon life. Somethings that may work for her, may not for you. Just as each of us are unique, so will be our journeys, completely different, yet all wonderful. I can assure you that Chasing God is a book that will impact you and your journey. May you stop chasing and begin knowing God.


 

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