Monday, April 16, 2018

Book Review - Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted by Shannan Martin

I'm not sure what prompted me to buy this book but as I read it I was glad I did. I've never lived on a farm, nor do I  have an innate love for pickles and brine but I could relate to the author's description of the joy and liberty of what trusting God feels like.

Shannan used her life and circumstances to demonstrate what faith can look like. For the author it was stepping out of her comfort zone by living in an area some would deem unsafe with no blue ribbon schools in sight, leaving high paying corporate jobs with no future sense of a prized stability, adopting children from every walk of life and ultimately being happy with where God had placed her. It was not a superficial happy either - like "o gee look at me, I'm happy in spite of my circumstances." Instead, it's a happiness where she saw the truths of God's word borne out in her life. So much so, I'm convinced that if this book were not written no one would believe her because her life now seems counter to everything that we thought would make us happy.

As Christians, we're not of this world; we ought to have a different
mindset. Yet somehow so many of us are happy with comfortable Christianity even when we are not part of the privileged power system. Without saying it directly the author was part of the demographic that benefited from this country's power structure. She knew God but didn't really know him until she started free falling. I highlighted so many parts of this book (according to Goodreads -163 highlights) which demonstrated the shifting of her faith and the essence of falling free:

"Faith points to a way that’s completely different. It requires us to abandon our lives into the hands of God and whatever he has planned. This is the road that leads to freedom and to fulfilling our mission during our time on earth."
"The trick-math of this upside-down Jesus economy promises that we can never outspend our reserves. There is no limit, only capacity."
"When we believe we’re entitled to keep 90 percent of whatever we earn, our capacity to truly care about the kingdom of God and his people—our neighbors—is kept at bay. It’s stunted. To our own detriment."
"There’s a difference between being too scared to do hard things and doing hard things scared."
"New Testament faith cannot be practiced in private. Either the faith will destroy the isolation, or the isolation will destroy the faith."

This is a book about faith and trusting God with everything - our jobs, houses, children, money written in a raw honest fashion. It's the author sharing her heart convictions with us; discovering that she had limited God to her American Dream circumstances and that He is so much bigger than that. This book resonated with me as I have been doing some soul searching and arriving at similar truths.

If you're living the life you thought you wanted and you're feeling empty, perhaps as you read this book your spirit will be renewed and reminded that God's ways are not ours.

--Nylse

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6 comments:

  1. Nylse, thank you for taking the time to read and review Falling Free. I loved seeing it through your eyes.

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  2. I love getting book recs from others! Thank you so much for sharing. laurensparks.net has my latest book review up now.

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  3. Abandoning our life into the hands of God and whatever his plan is for us is exactly where I am right now, and these words are so encouraging! Great book review too:)

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  4. I LOVED this book! Shannon has a beautiful way with words and storytelling. Highly recommended book! #RechargeWednesday

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  5. "The trick-math of this upside-down Jesus economy promises that we can never outspend our reserves." What a blessed thought!

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