Book Review: Let Go, by Sheila Walsh

The publisher's website says, in part, the following about this book:

“In Let Go, the bestselling author and speaker [Sheila Walsh] walks readers through the journey to freedom in Christ. Along the way, she tackles some of the toughest struggles that weigh women down, answering them with overwhelming truth, promise, and hope.

You can lay down your burdens. You can rest. You can find peace. You can live free.

Start here. Let Go. And see what God can do.”

I received my review copy of this book at a time when I was pondering some issues in my life, feeling weighed down with burdens I'm trying to carry for myself and others. I sat down to read this book Saturday morning; the tears started in the first chapter and continued through to the end on Sunday.

Using a mixture of scripture, quotes from heroes of the faith, parables, and intensely personal stories from her own life, Sheila Walsh has written a loving letter to each woman who reads this book, full of encouragement and hope. Every woman — every person — who struggles with burdens from a troubled past, a difficult present, or an uncertain future will find help in this book.

I still am trying to wrap my mind around the point Walsh makes at the end of a discussion of the story of Hagar, the slave girl who bore Abraham's first child and was sent into the desert to die with her young son. Instead of death, Hagar met an angel who introduced her to God, whom she called El Roi: the God who sees. Speaking of Hagar, Walsh points out that “She was left by this world to die — but she was not forgotten by heaven. The God who sees never took his eyes off Hagar.

“And he never takes his eyes off you.”

The God who sees never takes his eyes off me. That thought alone is worth the price of this well written book. I highly recommend it.

Trying to Stay on Top of It All

Busy at work, but trying to make myself continue to work out, eat well, and keep writing, even if it's just a little bit each day. So far I've been doing . . . okay, but not great. It's just a day at a time, isn't it?

Checking in is Better Than . . . Not

I haven't posted anything to this blog in weeks, because (a) I suddenly got busy at work and (b) I couldn't come up with anything profound to say. Mostly it's (b). If I can't say something profound, I don't want to say anything at all. Which is why I have never finished a novel, even though I've wanted to write one since I was a kid.

I'm too hard on myself. I know that. When it comes to writing, part of my problem is that I've read so much over the years, I've been exposed to the good and the bad and the ugly in published material, and I just really, really don't want to put the bad or the ugly out there. But I'm not sure I can measure up to the standard I've set in my own head.

But I have to have something in my life other than my job. Yes, of course, I have my family and the farm, and those things are the best part of my life. But I'm talking about something in my life to do for myself other than work.

So just for the sake of saying I've done it, I'm going to try to check in here several times a week, even if I have nothing profound or witty to say. Today all I have to say is that I wrote 1500 words on my novel-in-progress this morning. Not good words; not brilliant writing. But I got words into the computer file and moved the story a little farther down the road.

Today that will be enough for me.