That is what one dear friend said about a book that a few of us in my little Phoenix Bubble have been reading. Another way I've heard it described (multiple times, before and after I got my grubby hands on it) is "life-changing".
I finished it recently. Yes, I, Leila Miller, finished a book! And I cannot stop thinking about it and applying it, again and again.
It is life-changing and mind-blowing.
And it's short!
Into Your Hands, Father: Abandoning Ourselves to the God Who Loves Us, by Fr. Wilfrid Stinissen
Do yourself a favor: Read this book. Get out your pen, highlighter, whatever, and start notating the parts that jump out at you. It will pretty much put life and suffering into a context you can understand and actually do something with. If the truths that lie within these pages are taken in and digested, anxiety would cease. We could rest easy, whatever our lot. Yes, I mean that.
When my local girlfriends started recommending it to me a few months back, I didn't even remember that I had a copy already on my bookshelf from several years ago when another friend had told me that it was life-changing, and I had bought it on her recommendation. I must not have been ready for it at the time, because I read through some pages, it didn't wow me, and I put it back on my shelf to collect dust.
But when I had a second copy put in my hands recently, I was ready. God had made me ready in the years since, and I am eternally grateful, because it all makes perfect sense now.
In the past days, I have loaned one of my copies to a friend and mailed the other copy to someone who was spiritually moved by the excerpts I kept posting on Facebook. I recently ordered a third copy so that I'll have one on hand to give away when someone crosses my path who needs it (and that would be everybody).
Did I mention, dear harried, tired, overwhelmed-with-life readers, that it's short?
And for those thinking ahead to Lenten reading, you're welcome. :)
Buying it on Kindle!
ReplyDeleteBecky, you'll be glad you did! I want to hear what you think! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds similar to Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, by Rev. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure and St. Claude La Colombiere, and Finding God's Will for Your Life by St. Franics de Sales.
ReplyDeleteBoth books are difficult to read because the messages contained within usually hit home only when we are in extremely tender and vulnerable places in our lives.
Think Ps 31:10 "my strength fails in my affliction, my bones are wearing down (waste away)."
I find I am forever between two realities in the spiritual life: wrestling God to His delight, and winning the blessing (as Jacob did in Gen 32), which is usually what He asks us to do; or wrestling God and losing for my own good -- see above books. I prefer winning the immediately experienced blessing, yah-huh. Regardless, He always calls us to His will. There's no real "time-out" in the Catholic life. Gotta keep on keepin' on.
Someone tell the ref to get his whistle ready -- we're going another round ...
"Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths." - Ps 25:4
Nubby, yes! He references Trustful Surrender often! It's great, because I had read that long, long ago. I loved it. This is a little more accessible to the modern masses, I believe.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love your analysis! That is exactly right!
This book hit me within months of my own personal suffering (like nothing I'd experienced before) and it was like a 2x4, spiritually! So amazingly providential. Just exactly what I needed and it all fell into place. God is so cool. :)
What about Abandonment to Divine Providence --- but no, I'm not recommending any books. What I am surprised at is that you read so little. This Christmas I gave out over 100 books, choosing from my best reads of this past year, to my friends who don't have the time for reading as I do. If you find it surprising to find good reads, I can add you to my list.
ReplyDeleteDNBA, ha ha, thank you! I have no shortage of books to read (my bookshelf is full of books I'd love to find time to read!), and I don't find it surprising to find good reads... I just don't seem to get around to it, and then every few years I find a book that truly blows my socks off. The ones that are "life-changing" and teach me in a way that I need to hear. Crazy how much God still teaches us after decades. And some books that meant nothing to me the first time I "tried" them, suddenly change my life years later when I pick them up again. I love it!
ReplyDeleteCurrently, I'm reading He Leadeth Me, by Fr. Walter Ciszek, and it dovetails so beautifully with Into Your Hands, Father. I literally had to put the book down at one point. I gasped at how directly relevant certain passages and truths are.
"He Leadeth Me" is the best.
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