In this slim volume, the author’s “desire and prayer for you . . . is that you will be able to understand the calls [divine interventions] of God in your life, and . . . find the answer to unknown hunger in your soul.” The book’s seven chapters —Salvation, Lordship, Service, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Rest, and Abiding—follow a generally accepted unfolding of a believer’s experience of maturing in the Christian life.
Author Marianna W. Albritton has written lessons for each call and has been teaching them for over 45 years. In the Preface, she presents an “imaginary ladder” to explain God’s process of bringing a newly converted person to full maturity over time. “Walking by faith, one step at a time,” she writes, “climbing one rung of the ladder at a time is God’s way to lead a believer into a deeper relationship with Him.”
Subsequent chapters present the rungs of this ladder in logical progression. For example, Lordship (following His ways) naturally follows salvation (coming into a relationship with Jesus).
Throughout, the author encourages readers to persevere in finding a place of service by sharing her journey from secretary to nursery attendant to Sunday School teacher.
Albritton writes in a conversational and candid tone that endears readers to her. She creatively uses metaphor in her text; for example, she writes that “Walking by faith is a lot like walking in clouds,” and effectively uses parallel construction to bring readers along: “Salvation is receiving; Lordship is submitting. Salvation is a call; Lordship is a crisis.”
However, the book also has a few flaws that detract from its message. The author never identifies the Bible version she uses, and the text includes typos, punctuation and capitalization errors, as well as misused words and grammatical errors (i.e., “Services not done in the atmosphere of rest is bound to fail”) that require attention.
Such issues aside, readers will appreciate the earnestly conveyed information in these pages.
Also available as an ebook.
