In this Christian-based book, author Sharon Williams shares brief personal experiences and thoughts that reflect the topic of each focused chapter.
Williams’s chapter titles include “New Starts,” “Our Amazing World,” “Image of God,” and more. She uses Scripture to discuss her perspective on each subject, with the hope of enlightening her readers about God’s closeness to them, even when they might not realize it. She scatters questions throughout and offers a brief “Seed for Thought” section at the end of most chapters to underscore that chapter’s message.
The author emphasizes the choice individuals have to acknowledge, appreciate, and follow God to discover what she calls the “beautiful mysteries” of our earth and mankind, to respond to personal desires, and to live with human understanding.
The chapters aren’t numbered and feel like self-contained units of study. Williams references eight versions of the Scriptures and provides a helpful index of key words. Her personal voice is straightforward and unadorned, as in: “Today, we are not so careful when using God’s name. We have become influenced by world values and forgotten the values of God Almighty. This dishonors God because it indicates a lack of respect…”
The few formatting issues are minor and easily overlooked, but the author provides facts without citations in several places that are noticeable—for example, mentioning that “Today there are around 2,400 divorces every day in the United States…”
The text also contains grammatical issues, including punctuation errors and wordy sentences that are sometimes convoluted (“It is easy to be deceived by the world we live in, for it is a wide road and is easy to travel”) or redundant (The bare sections had nothing in them, but they needed to be filled. I felt that those bare, empty places represented…”).
Williams delivers thoughts on a broad range of traditional Christian tenets. Flaws aside, her book can be used as a devotional or study guide for believers from most mainstream Christian denominations.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
