Book Review: Confessions of an Amateur Believer

Patty Kirk's newly released book,
"Confessions of an Amateur Believer",
is a poignant and heartfelt spiritual autobiography
of an honest seeker who knows what it means
to have faith wax, then wane, and then joyfully
wax again. One can get the impression, from the
atmosphere present in many churches, that faith
ought to be an easy thing. Everyone looks so
cheery, so "nice", so beyond doubt. Secretly,
however, in my inner heart, I may feel like
everyone but me is sure about their relationship
to God.

The truth is: we are all on a journey, and no
matter how much we think we know about God,
God is always trying to bring us us deeper
and further. Many of us were "given" faith
as a child, but is our childhood faith enough
to bring us to a mature knowledge of God?

There is a truism: "God draws straight lines
with crooked sticks." The author journeys from
her childhood faith growing up in the Catholic
church to a point as an adult where she says,
'The faint glimmer of faith I had once was
not enough to fill me with the light of
genuine belief. ...and without faith, I was not
saved. I was not a Catholic. Not a Christian.
Not going to heaven...when I died, no matter
what anyone told me." How honest and
poignant! She winds up her journey by saying,
"God is so amazingly generous. I ask, He gives.
Just like that. I worry; He counsels me in the
night and instructs me in His ways." Not a glib,
easy faith, but one born of trust.

Here are the straightforward reflections of a
person wrestling through the many inner
questions that we are all confronted with,
each perhaps in our own way, as we grow from
doubt to the tender shoots of authentic faith.
With so much that seems phony in the realm of
"belief", here is a breath of fresh air of
someone who speaks from her heart. If you
have ever moved from "here to there" in your
beliefs, wondered if anyone else was thinking
like you, tripping over the rocks of doubt,
but longing for true faith, or know someone
who has, you may enjoy "Confessions of
an Amateur Believer."
(published by Nelson Books, 0-7852-2041-0).



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Confessions of an Amateur Believer