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Saturday, March 20, 2010

book review: "beautiful things happen when a woman trusts God" by sheila walsh

Sheila begins her story with a story. She tells of when she was younger and how she and her sister would sometimes go to the park. Sheila would sit on the swing with her sister pushing her. One day a bully came to the park and began pushing Sheila. Though he didn’t push her any higher than her sister did, she was still scared. “Who was pushing the swing made all the difference in the world. The heart behind the hands pushing the swing changed everything…so this is a book about trust: how hard it is to trust, how we learn to trust, how we live with trust and how our lives are transformed by trust.”

A recurring thought Sheila shares in her book is that God is able to use what we may be ashamed of or think nothing good could come of. She spent some time in a psychiatric hospital and has been amazed at what God has done with that experience. “Suddenly I began to see that my brokenness was a far greater bridge to others than my pretended wholeness had ever been.” She talks about how when seeking God for direction, she still had no idea what to do. “Have you ever been there, prayed that God would let you in on what He’s doing so life doesn’t feel so out of control but He is silent?” We’re led on a journey with several people in the Bible; people who help illustrate what Sheila has finally discovered: “I’ve since learned that Jesus wants me to trust Him so completely that I no longer question anything He puts into my hands or the path He chooses for my life.” Anna, Mary and Martha, Paul, Tabitha, Gideon, Joseph, Samson, Abraham and Nicodemus – all men and women who struggled with trusting God.

Trust is something I think we all have to wrestle with. I just so happened to read this book at a time in my life where I’m having to constantly work on continuing to trust God when it seems He is indeed silent. Sheila’s book is a good reminder that He does listen and does care – I just need to be reminded sometimes. I feel like there’s one sentence that sums up her message: “After there's nothing else you can do - when you finally accept that stewing and supposing and worrying don't lead to answers; when your heart faints and you're afraid of that dark night and you can't figure it all out on your own and everything seems to be going up in smoke - trust kicks in and knocks you to your knees."

1 comment:

  1. This sounds like a really good book -- and yes, something that we can all really use in today's society. (If you happen to be thinking of a giveaway for this book, I know of one entry... ;-) )

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