Book Review ~ "Everything"

Everything by Mary DeMuth

Publisher's Description:


“I don’t write this book as a condemnation or as a sermon. The last thing I want to do is provide a ‘how to be the best Christian in ten easy steps’ guide. I pen these words as a fellow struggler who is learning that what we think about God matters, how we allow Him to reign in our hearts matters, and how we obey Him in the moment matters. It all matters. Everything.”

 Author and speaker Mary DeMuth has been abused, foreclosed, abandoned, and betrayed. She has been pressed and drained till it was too much . . . But it was just enough to bring her to a place of surrender, piece by precious piece. In that surrender, she found the freedom of giving everything to God. And through Scripture, community, and the work of the Holy Spirit, she gives it all over again, every day. In this gentle and challenging book, DeMuth describes the process and the nuances that shape us to be more like Christ. Her words are clear, vulnerable, and thought provoking, and every chapter is infused with Scripture. Most of all, DeMuth provides personal and practical evidence that there is no greater pursuit than Christ. We must surrender everything, but it does not compare to the Everything He is, the Everything He gives.

My Thoughts:

When this book came up for review, I requested it right away.  It went right along with something we'd been talking about at bible study:  giving every bit of ourselves, not just pieces of ourselves or certain areas to the Lord.  Mary DeMuth speaks from her heart and shares stories that have brought her to places of facing the challenge of surrendering all to the Lord and in Him finding the everything that we want and need.  The book is broken down into three areas of surrender:  our Head - What We Think, our Heart-Who We Are, and our Hands-How We Live.  These areas include chapters that delve more into the specific areas that everyone finds harder to relinquish such as worry, failure, insecurity, control, letting the past define us, letting others define us, the vows that we make are just a few example.  I found this book to be a great encouragement in showing how Jesus desires to be all that we need and that it is a good thing to give up even those areas that we hide deep inside that no one can see.  We've all got them.  All of us find some areas easier than others.  As I read and answered the questions at the end of each chapter,  I felt challenged yet could feel that desire to let it all go and get closer to God and find in Jesus all that I'm really searching for.  I will be honest in saying that, for me, this is not a book that can just be sat down and read. While the style is pleasant reading for a non-fiction, it is challenging in the sense of causing me to look deep inside.  I had to take breaks and chew on what the author was trying to get across.  Sometimes I had to reread sections and paragraphs.  But it was sorta like a friend cheering me on to do the very thing that would get me closer to the Lord.

To purchase or read more on "Everything" you can go here and  here

Disclosure:  I received this book free of charge from Booksneeze for my honest review.  All opinions expressed are my own.