Welcome back. I hope you enjoy and thank you for returning.

As a follow up and add on to yesterdays post I am reposting a book review from last year. An email from the publisher and author and then a flurry of emails between the author and myself is what prompted the wonderful Lenten journey I and hopefully all my readers will embark on. I firmly believe that God was moving on Tuesday when I recieved that first email, but without Karina’s help this would have never soared to the proportions it did. Besides reading the posts from all the authors over the next few weeks, I suggest getting your hands on Karina and Steve’s book and use it as a guide throughout Lent and beyond.

May your Lenten journey be blessed.

Christina Weigand

Book Review: Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life

By: Karina Lumbert Fabian & Deacon Steven Lumbert

There are so many wonderful things in this book I’m not sure where to begin. So I guess I’ll start at the beginning. I’m one of those cradle Catholics. For a long time I mistakenly believed I knew all there was to know about being a Christian. A few years ago, through some life-changing events, I learned that was not the case. In fact I discovered how little I did know. Ms. Fabian and her father, Deacon Lumbert’s book “Why God Matters” reinforced this message and will serve to guide me on my journey to God.

This book reached out and spoke to me in so many ways. I’m not sure I could pick a chapter that didn’t address some part of my life that needed attention. I like the way the chapters tell a very real life story and then show the lesson learned. With Biblical references and quotes from Catechism of the Catholic Church the lessons are driven solidly home. They resonate for cradle Catholics as well as those new to the faith. They encourage us to continue in a life-long pursuit of God and what He can teach us. Like  Ms. Fabian says in Chapter 12, entitled My Non-Personal Relationship with God: “I want a relationship with God. I just don’t want it to be “personal.” I want a relationship that encompasses all of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One where he is all-powerful as he is all loving, where he listens to my trivial concerns with benevolence and maybe amusement–yet one where I can rage and share all and come crawling to him when I’m weak and confess my wrongdoings, knowing that no matter how small and wretched I am, he will be there for me, because after all, he is God.”

The book includes fourteen chapters. The chapters are short and to the point and can be easily read in an afternoon, not that I would recommend that. My recommendation is read it through once and then go back and read one chapter a day, or a week or a month. Digest the chapter, figure out how it applies to your life, to your spiritual journey. Embrace the message, make it part of your life. This isn’t rocket science, there may be no bolts of lightning, no burning bushes. Instead just simple life examples that can forever change your life. I truly love the fact, that it is in  the simple moments in our lives where we find God. Ms. Fabian and Deacon Lumbert gently and wonderfully remind us of that with their book Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life. I for one am going to start looking and highly recommend this book to any Christian looking to do the same.

Like Ms. Fabian and Deacon Lumbert, I believe St. Vincent De Paul defines this books message best: “The affairs of God are accomplished little by little and almost imperceptibly. The Spirit of God is neither violent nor hasty.”

Check out the website www.whygodmatters.com for more from the authors or have a story to share about your journey.

God Bless,

Christina Weigand