Losing Your Faith, Finding Your Soul- A Book Review

Most evangelical Christians I know won't read this book...but they should. Sadly, we so often throw out the wisdom of others who have gone before us, simply because we do not agree with them 100%.

But I learned much from David Robert Anderson and his beautifully written depiction of the path toward spiritual maturity entitled Losing Your Faith, Finding Your Soul: The Passage to New Life When Old Beliefs Die First, I discovered that my path is one that is shared by many. The knowledge that my journey which has brought me to this place, while unique to me, is a shared human experience. Shared, that is, if we open up our lives and our souls to becoming the people God created us to be...wholly His, surrendered and set apart for His good purposes.

Throughout the book, I kept asking myself, "When is the time for reading this book? Early in a person's faith or when they are suffering or perhaps when they are doubting or even when they have come through it all and just need to be assured that they are not the only ones to have survived conventional religion, legalism and unattainable perfection?" I'm not certain I ever learned the answer. I think it depends upon the soul about whom you are speaking. For myself, I kept wishing I'd read this book 20 years ago so I could have saved myself a lot of agony. But wisely, Anderson consoles us that we must go through each step of the Journey. I believe to skip a step is to make the passage through grace less purposeful and the arrival less beautifully sweet.

When your victory is hard-fought and the battles wearying, Anderson acknowledges that the dying to self and letting go of our egos will bring the joy, the peace, the grace and the Love that we are all seeking. To attempt to travel around the battle does not produce the same results.

Which brings me back to my first statement for this post. In our efforts to hem ourselves in and guard our hearts against the evils of this world, too many of us have blinded ourselves to the beauty that only God can bring out of the ashes. I wish the self-righteous prig of my 20's had never existed so that the regret of harsh words spoken would never need to be assuaged. But, thankfully...and by God's grace alone...the memory of that self-righteous prig helps keep my pride in check, my mind open to God's wisdom, and my heart ready to love the other self-righteous ones I meet along the way.

The passage from student to mentor/guide is one fraught with pitfalls, blunders and pain but here's one thing I know from my path and reinforced by the wisdom of Anderson's book: As a young, immature student I thought I had all the answers and should shout them out to any who passed by...as the older, more mature mentor/guide, I need to humbly admit that sometimes I not only don't know the answers...I don't even know which questions to ask.

But I finally know the One who does!