Embraced - Lysa TerKeurst

Subtitled “100 Devotions to Know God is Holding You Close”, this book had some excellent devotionals. Among my favorites were ones which listed key thoughts, such as one on humility, which made the points that God is our provider, providing what we need but not always what we want, and providing what protects our hearts. Her devotionals seemed aimed at someone getting used to a walk with God rather than at those who have matured in their faith. At times she belabored points, and at times her self-consciousness (such as the devotional where she was envious of the shape and size of another woman’s legs) was more than I could take. But I am not a young woman, so a young woman’s perspective and concerns are no longer mine. The author writes in a clear, straightforward way. After recently reading some writings of other young women, I found TerKeurst’s style refreshing. She said what she meant and meant what she said without using phrasing that sounded self-impressed. I like the fact that I think her writing will stand the test of time. I received this book for free in exchange for my unbiased review through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze Program.

The Way of Abundance - Ann Voskamp

I am of a generation that was taught to write in keeping with certain rules, where a sentence such as “So my grandma Ruth, she told me . . .” would come back with “, she” crossed out in red. Words such as “realest” and “realer” were unacceptable as replacements for “most real” or “more real,” if they were acceptable at all, because how can “real” have degrees? It is or it isn’t. And one did not invent words such as “givenness”, especially when meanings are not supplied but need to be inferred. Writing was to be clear and unambiguous, or it was not good writing. While Voskamp’s more recent writings are much improved over the tortuous One Thousand Gifts, the same thread of intensity over everyday things and events continues. This paragraph on page 29 is typical: “I put the porcelain pitcher on the barn board shelf by the farm table. All of us in a heart-breaking world, we are the fellowship of the broken like that painting of Jesus over the table. Over all of us is the image of the wounded God, the God who breaks open and bleeds with us.” This paragraph appears on page 162, in a chapter on doing for others: “And there’s an answer that lives cruciform, broken and given like bread, a broken way forward through brokenness, that gives grace forward, that gives forward, that chooses to make its life about being a gift, that moves dreams and hopes and abundant wholeness forward.” If this kind of repetitious, pseudo-philosophical, pseudo-wise, pseudo-authentic writing is your thing, then you will love this book, but be warned that it plows over the same tired theme repeatedly, making the point that giving and living by grace are essential. Many chapters bear titles such as Decisive Givenness, Vulnerable Givenness, Breaking Brokenness, Sacrificial Givenness, Held Brokenness, Living Givenness, Yielding into Givenness, Unashamed Brokenness, Sacrificial Givenness, Grieving Brokenness, Zacchaeus Brokenness, Crisis Givenness, “If Only” Brokenness, Koinonia Brokenness, Patient Brokenness, and Esther Givenness, as if adjectives and nouns were laid out in two lists and then joined willy-nilly. The writing seemed to me to follow that same randomness, matching events in the author’s life with some overblown application. The chapter about locking her keys in a vehicle and waiting for a spare key to be delivered (p. 194) is described as a near-crisis with “Patient Brokenness” as the lesson: “Passion has much less to do with elation and much more to do with patience. Passion embraces suffering because there’s no other way to embrace love. Love isn’t about feeling good about others; love is ultimately being willing to suffer for others.” So if locking your keys in your vehicle qualifies in your life as suffering (by contrast, previous generations would have considered this a mere inconvenience and a consequence of carelessness), this is the book for you. If, on the other hand, you prefer a straightforward writer who says what she means and means what she says, with events shrunk down to scale and points made succinctly, then look elsewhere. Because her writing is so popular, I gave Voskamp’s work another shot, in hopes it had calmed down from that self-impressed silliness of her earlier work. Never again: I'm not afraid to say it: The Emperor has no clothes. I received this book for free in exchange for my unbiased review through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze Program.