In a day and age, that I think I see a lot of people struggling with what is a ministry if it's not international, this is a great book to review. Because I have always believed that sometimes the easiest (and sometimes hardest), way to minister is to those right in front of our face, or in our neighbourhood.
She dares at the beginning of the book to say that we are all destined from the beginning to take on the situations and callings around us as ministry. Maybe even, for me, my broken marriage. Hmm...
To be completely honest, I wasn't sure how I was going to like this book because all books about being missionaries or ministry in general can be, well, lacking for me. Some of them seem full of preachy stories that don't quite have the realness--- but this book isn't like that.
From the get go, this book is written in a real sit-down format that you feel like you are either sitting with them or watching a video of them speaking about their experience. I can see it being a lifetime movie kind of writing.
I love that in the middle of the writing, like the writing on the wall- so to speak, she includes some very deep level of thinking. Like, "What does helping someone do for me" to "What does helping someone do for them?"
I have always operated from heart and cared far deeper about others. So while this is my raising-my-hands-high-in-church moment as if to say, "gosh, yes, why don't people get it?" that others really do struggle with understanding this concept.
So this is very well written to be able to, within each chapter and story telling mode, to be able to get the reader to ask deeper questions of self through listening to her story.
Much to my own surprise, I give this book a 5 out of 5.
Book Description
“In a world where hope seems dim and solutions feel complicated and partisan, Shannan Martin offers us a starting point that is as radical as it is domestic: widen your circle, hush your mouth, and pay close attention. This book is the right book for this moment in time and I simply cannot get over it. I either laughed or cried on almost every page. We need these lyrical, prophetic words now more than ever before.” —Emily P. Freeman, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Simply Tuesday
“This is a message the world needs. So often we overcomplicate ‘service’ or this elusive call to ministry when all the while ministry is right in front of us. Shannan reminds us of the simple, yet beautiful call to love our neighbor and what that could really look like today. We are reminded that extravagant love in ordinary moments does indeed lead to an extraordinary life.” --Katie Davis Majors, New York Times bestselling author of Kisses from Katie
Popular blogger Shannan Martin offers Christians who are longing for a more meaningful life a simple starting point: learn what it is to love and be loved right where God has placed you.
For Christ-followers living in an increasingly complicated world, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to live a life of intention and meaning. Where do we even begin?
Shannan Martin offers a surprisingly simple answer: uncover the hidden corners of our cities and neighborhoods and invest deeply in the lives of people around us. She walks us through her own discoveries about the vital importance of paying attention, as well as the hard but rewarding truth about showing up and committing for the long haul, despite the inevitable encounters with brokenness and uncertainty. With transparency, humor, heart-tugging storytelling, and more than a little personal confession, Martin shows us that no matter where we live or how much we have, as we learn what it is to be with people as Jesus was, we'll find our very lives. The details will look quiet and ordinary, and the call will both exhaust and exhilarate us. But it will be the most worth-it adventure we will ever take."
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