Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Archives for November 2012

Surrender never sounded so sweet: A review of Everything by Mary DeMuth

Surrender.

It’s almost a dirty word, isn’t it? Hearing it evokes images of giving up, losing and waving a white flag. Beaten. Over. Done.

Author Mary DeMuth redeems the idea of surrender in her new book Everything: What you give and what you gain to become like Jesus.

This is not an easy topic to tackle, nor do I imagine it’s particularly popular. Surrender is not a sexy sell for Christianity. Imagine this conversation: “Oh, you want to be a Christian? Okay, just give God everything. That’s all.” DeMuth addresses this in one chapter in the book, saying we, the church, often boil down the Gospel to “All you do is (fill in the blank).” Then we add requirements later and wonder why people walk away from a faith they so easily embraced.

DeMuth says the gospel starts with “all you do is die to your own desires and embrace Jesus’ lordship.” “All your life is the gospel,” DeMuth says.

I’ve been chewing on the chapters of this book for almost a month now, and though I’m not quite finished with the book, I didn’t want to wait another week to share it with you. Because one of the chapters I read today was about politics and how we treat people who have different opinions or lifestyles or beliefs than us. A timely word if ever there was one.

Throughout, DeMuth approaches the Everything life, as she calls it, with transparency and humility. She is a sweet soul who admits from the start that she is “a fellow struggler, one who doesn’t often feel Jesusy or strong or faith-filled.” I appreciate the honesty with which she shares about her journey. The abuse she suffered as a child. The ministry “failures” her family has experienced. The hurt from fellow believers. The disconnect between belief and action.

She is not speaking from a lofty tower of Christian perfection. She is pounding the pavement of life, day in, day out, seeking the heart of Jesus.

This is the sort of book I could underline nearly all of, and my journal is filled with notes and quotes from DeMuth’s experiences and wisdom. The book is small, but mighty. Not bogged down with incomprehensible jargon but simply stated truths. I will go back to this book again and again. Everything came at a time when I needed encouragement that following God doesn’t always look like success, that personal sacrifices are worth it, that others have surrendered everything and found God faithful and their lives filled.

So, get your hands on this book. It’s food for the soul.

And would you pray for Mary DeMuth and her family? In the midst of the book launch for Everything, her youngest daughter is suffering from an undiagnosed illness that causes debilitating headaches. She blogs and updates here regularly. Further proof that following Christ doesn’t mean everything will always go the way you want or expect. But following Him is always worth it.

————–

In exchange for my review, I received a free copy of Everything from Thomas Nelson through the Booksneeze program.

The writing relationship

It’s November, which means for the second year in a row I’m attempting to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month.

Crazy right?

Yep.

But not as crazy for me as NOT writing.

See, I have this wacky relationship with words. I need them. I cherish them. I cry over them.

Last week as my husband and I took time to clean and sort our things in the attic, I found a box full of notebooks and journals. In them were more than a decade’s worth of words and lessons and notes about what I’d been reading in the Bible.

They were wet. Or had been. And when I pulled them from the box, they were moldy and stuck to each other and undecipherable.

And still I hesitated to throw them away.

Those were my words!

Fear not; they are in a garbage bag awaiting a trip to the curb this weekend.

It still pains me to see them ruined.

And yet I have hope because words are part of me. Maybe I can’t re-create the words or the notes or the life lessons. And maybe it’s good that I can’t relive the early years of our marriage with a day-by-day dramatic and emotional account in my own words.

Sometimes, I need to write just to get the feelings out. To process all that’s going on in my head. I think in written words, not spoken ones. When I open my mouth, I tend to say little or speak a ton of nonsense. I don’t really have a happy medium when I speak. Writing, though, is a whole different story. (Pun intended?) It’s my therapy. My encouragement. My soul-cleansing.

And it’s a demanding friend.

The more time I give it, the more time it wants. In the quiet of my home these last few days, I’ve showered my writing with attention. Tomorrow, I will feel guilt when I have to divert my attention to the children. Writing and children CAN coexist without attention starvation. I’m still working that balance.

Writing requires commitment. And commitment is always hard work. And hard work is rarely easy but almost always worth it.

I find myself comparing my writing relationship to other writers, and just like in friendships and marriages, no good can come of the comparison game. Still, I am jealous sometimes of the time other writers can spend with their writing.

And I wonder if I’ve chosen wisely, this friendship with writing. We are lifelong friends, though, and to lose this friend would be to lose a piece of myself. This friendship might not ever (okay reality check: will not ever) make me rich in the ways of money, but it enriches my life in ways I can’t tally.

So if you see me this month, and I have a far-off look in my eyes, it’s because I’m dreaming of my next writing span. Or I’m tired and undercaffeinated because I’ve been up early or late writing.

Bring me some coffee! I’ve got a date with a book’s worth of imaginary friends!

And now it’s been confirmed: I am definitely crazy.

If you want in on the crazy, here’s the manifesto.

Write on, friends. Write on.