I have had the privilege of being on several of Christine Hoover's launch teams, and I was so excited to be chosen to be a part of launching her newest book Searching for Spring: How God Makes All Things Beautiful in Time. When she sent the blurb about the book she was working on, I knew it was one I would want to read, so I went ahead and pre-ordered it, even before she asked for volunteers for the launch team!
Christine has an incredible gift of graciously expressing deep truths. She writes from her soul and really seeks to encourage others through her writing. She uses a perfect blend of prose, personal stories, and Scripture to share the deep truths. I often picture her sitting down with me, over a cup of coffee, sharing her heart and all the Lord is teaching her. I know that is her desire in her writing, and it certainly comes through in her books.
I have to put a disclaimer on my review for this book. I honestly struggled with this book at first and had to start over. I had a preconceived idea in my head, so when the book wasn't fitting that idea, I just had a hard time following. She breaks the book down into the 4 seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring. So in my mind, I was thinking her analogies would follow those seasons. In some ways she does {particularly in the winter section, which is the majority of the book}. But when there were hardly any summer analogies, and she was talking about winter in the fall section and fall in the winter section...I admit I was frustrated and confused. And it almost ruined the book for me.
BUT...I decided to start over, throwing the seasons out the window. Instead, I just read her words as they came, instead of trying to see how they related to the seasons. And it was SO MUCH BETTER. So while I wish perhaps the sections were not labeled by the seasons {or perhaps the seasonal analogies flowed a little better}, I am so glad that I didn't give up. I know Christine is a tried and true author, so I knew not to let my struggles keep me from gleaning the wisdom she offers.
So that being said...forget about the seasons altogether and just read the words as they come, and I promise you will not be disappointed.
Christine opens her book, admitting that we are all looking for beauty in a broken world. As believers, we know that God makes all things beautiful in His time, but when we look around, we see brokenness, pain, and anything but beautiful things. It's hard to see how He is working in the mundane, the difficulties, and the pains of this life. So she takes the reader on a journey of finding the beauty in both familiar and unexpected places.
She walks us through God's character, and how He is gently working to accomplish His will, even in the seemingly non-beautiful things. While some things will never be made right this side of heaven {what she refers to as "inconsolable things"}, we can still have confidence that God is not absent, but instead graciously crafting the beauty of His will and glory in our lives through redemption. And that sometimes the most beautiful things come from the "ugly" things.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
"God is still creating beauty. In fact, he is creating now a beauty that didn't exist at the earth's birth but that only began after Adam and Eve's devastating decision. It is the beauty of redemption, and because God is still creating, he is at this very moment weaving this beauty in us."
"In our own barrenness, in the unanswered prayer, we must know that God may be silent, but he is never still."
"Dear heart, Jesus didn't say he'd save you from affliction. Instead he asked you to go all-in on a promise of unexpected beauty sprouting up through that very affliction."
"We must stay in the minor key as long as he has us there, because the Holy Spirit's conviction and kindness drawing us to repentance is evidence of his love, and repentance turns the music to a major key once again."
"God can make something beautiful out of you, even the most hopeless, broken-down thing in your life."-------
You can get your copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Christianbook.com.
Thank you, Christine for choosing me {yet again} to be on your launch team. And thank you to Baker Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.
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