Remember God | A Book Review
It can be hard to remember God sometimes. It’s not something we often do in the daily grind. At least, it isn’t for me. But I’m learning how to remember God in the everyday and not only in the hard moments. Annie Downs new book, Remember God helps us all learn how to do just that. To remember that He is who He says He is. She tells her story beautifully and walks you through how she learned to Remember God.
DISCLAIMER: I received this book from B&H Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. Want to be a B&H/LifeWay blogger too? Apply at bhbloggers.com.
I know God is loving; I know He is good; I believe He is big and powerful. But sometimes I wonder if He is really kind–really deeply always kind.
IS HE?
Christians love to talk about how God is in control, but that’s harder to grasp when things aren’t going like you thought they would, when your life looks quite different than you imagined.
For centuries, God’s people have been building altars to Him–to remind themselves and the people around them of His work. His goodness. His kindness. Stacks of stones. Altars. Temples. Cathedrals. Why? Because they believed God and wanted to remember Him.
In the back of my mind, God reminds me that He is the same trustworthy God–the One who always finishes the stories He starts. This is my story–of wrestling with our God who gives a limp and a blessing. A God who is always kind even when my circumstances feel the opposite. God is who He says He is. He is kinder than you imagine. In a world where it is easy to forget who He is, we will not. We will remember God.
The question “is God kind?” is one that I think all of us ask at some point in our walks with Him. Especially, as Annie says, when our “circumstances feel the opposite” and we put that blame on God and say He isn’t kind.
I’m guilty as charged of doing this in my own walk with Him. This book is filled with Annie’s story. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the embarrassing. She is super vulnerable in this book, which I appreciate. It’s hard for an author to be so transparent, but I am thankful she was because this book ministered to me in many ways. And, I know this book will minister to you as well.
Remember God is a book about the ways we can remember God in the good times and the not so good times alike. It’s a book filled Annie’s countless stories of her own personal journey to Remember God and how she experienced true freedom and healing from past scars when she learned to let go and trust Him.
Personally, I can relate to the wresting with God aspect that Annie talks about. And I really think there’s something for all of us to learn here. None of us are perfect Christians and all of us wrestle with God. We wrestle with the need for Him, and the want to control our own lives. That stems from way back in Genesis when Satan tempted Eve and we are still feeling the effects today. All of us, whether we admit it or not, want to be in control and also want to serve God. However, we can’t be both the slave and the master. We ultimately have to choose whether we will serve Jesus or ourselves.
It’s important to remember God in everything, not just in some things. It is so hard to do, especially in our society, but I want to make it my personal goal this new year to remember God.
I don’t really have a favorite aspect of this book, because it is written in such a way that it acts as one entire story that’s just broken up into chapters. I know that this book is one that I will want to read again and again because it made me more aware of the presence of God in my daily life.
Reading Annie’s story has made me realize that while no, things don’t always look the way we wanted or in the timeframe we had pictured, that God is always kind and good and has a plan for our lives. Even when our circumstances feel the opposite of that.
This is a book I definitely recommend for any woman struggling to remember that God is who He says He is and needs reassurance of that through the heartfelt and vulnerable words of Annie F. Downs. It’s such a wonderful book filled with Annie’s personal stories and testimony written like one big story.
You can purchase the book through LifeWay (which is on sale for $5 right now) or wherever books are sold! Audiobooks are available as well through Christian Audio and Audible!
Tell me in the comments below, do you relate to this book as much as I do?
