Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Book Review: When A Woman Trusts God


Beautiful Things Happen When A Woman Trusts God by Sheila Walsh


Some things in life happen at just the right time. This book came into my life at just the right time, I think it is a God-incidence. Sheila Walsh has struggled with depression her whole life. She also has not ever let it win. She has had doubts on top of doubts about her abilities. She has trusted Him with who He says she is, instead of trusting her own perceptions of what she felt like she could accomplish.


This book would be incredible if it was just her story of overcoming doubts and insecurities, but it doesn't stop there. There are so many people from the Bible who have had similar battles with self doubt. Abraham, Joseph, Samson, Nicodemus and Gideon are just a few of the Biblical people she studies to arrive at the conclusion that God gets the final say on who we are and what we can accomplish IN HIM.


This book has been the final pull that got me away from the deep pit of despair that I had been lingering way too close to. Sometimes things become such a pattern for us that we begin to think of them as normal instead of SICK. It isn't normal to wake up feeling like a failure. It isn't normal to not want to face the day or the people you love. It isn't normal to think the world would be a better place without you in it. It is a sickness that our brains get. Sometimes there are legitimate things in life that happen where these feelings originate, but that doesn't mean it is normal. A firm trust in a God who loves you and has a plan for your life isn't always enough. Sometimes you also need some medication to boost the chemicals in your brain back to normal. Some people even need counseling because their reality has become so skewed. People would think it very odd if you got a physical illness that medication or seeing a doctor would cure and instead you decided to just 'live with it'. Chemicals and emotions gone haywire in your brain are not any different.


Sheila Walsh is so brave for being so honest about depression. It no longer has the stigma that it used to. People have finally come to believe that it is real and it is treatable. Depression doesn't define who you are-that is for God and God alone.

No comments: