Life is messy, yet God is present

marys-way-book

MARY’S WAY — the power of entrusting your child to God, by Judy Landrieu Klein, (Ave Maria Press, 2016, Supplied by Pleroma Christian Supplies); $36.99. Reviewed by SHANNON ROBERTS

15-marys-way-book-webMary’s Way; The power of entrusting your child to God is the personal story of one mother’s journey with her children and the wisdom she picks up along the way.

Author Judy Klein’s journey is not an easy one and her children are by no means perfect through their “growing up” years. Like many mothers, Klein describes an early expectation that motherhood would be all “warmth, joy and glowing light”, and the extent to which it tests her comes as a shock.

Reflecting anew on the life of Mary, she ultimately makes peace with the fact that life is messy, yet God is present in the mess.

Many mothers will find inspiration in the strength and trust in God Klein models through the hard times in her life; times of uncertainty when she doesn’t understand her children’s choices or state of mind but is powerless to force her own opinions or faith on them.

She faces both addiction in one of her children and the untimely death of her husband. Yet, the powerlessness and suffering Klein encounters is what forces the surrender of her own life and that of her children to God.

She finds out first hand that having the courage to embrace the crosses life inevitably brings eventually gives way to new life and a deeper and greater peace.

Sharing her own story and the Bible verses which touch her most, Klein invites the reader at the end of each chapter to ponder how her reflections might fit their own life and then offers up a prayer for the reader to pray.

The chapters are divided up into events in the life of Christ which are also used to reflect on events in Klein’s own life and that of the reader.

In sharing her story, Klein is honest and relatable. She encourages the reader to deepen their own trust and faith, offer up their own children to the care of God, and accept an inability to control everything.

The book is worthwhile reading for any mother who struggles with trust and faith or seeks company and support through the trials that motherhood — and life — inevitably bring.

Shannon Roberts is an Auckland-based mother of two pre-schoolers who co-edits the Demography is Destiny blog with her husband Marcus on mercatornet.com

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