A couple of weeks ago as I was trying to face my addiction to books my husband calls me to the computer where he has Amazon pulled up and shows me this book. He thought it looked like something I would enjoy. It is the “Women of Faith Novel of the Year”. Well you know I love the WOF conferences and how could I resist getting their novel of the year. So yes, I click the button and in 2 days it is at my doorstep. We pay one price annually and get free 2 day shipping so that really isn’t helping my book addiction at all.

Anyway – I get the book and even though I still have 50 or so other books to read I decide to read this one first. When I read about it on Amazon it sounded like a book about a lady who had it all but still wasn’t happy. I thought she somehow went and lived with the Amish or something to discover her purpose in life. Silly me – I guess I didn’t know what a Quaker was.

Quakers don’t refer to themselves as Quakers. The are called “The Religious Society of Friends”. They are not Amish and do use modern technology.

Here are their basic beliefs:
“Friends believe that there exists element of God's spirit in every human soul. Thus all persons have inherent worth, independent of their gender, race, age, nationality, religion, and sexual orientation. Their opposition to sexism, racism, religious intolerance, warfare and the death penalty comes from this belief.”

“Simplicity, pacifism, and inner revelation are long standing Quaker beliefs. Their religion does not consist of accepting specific beliefs or of engaging in certain practices; it involves each person's direct experience of God.”

This is a really good book. Heather, the main character in the book is starting to deal with the fact that she has a nice home, wonderful husband and son, and really everything that this world thinks is good, but is still not happy. This book really isn’t totally about her Quaker experience although it does play a part in the book. This book is broken into 3 sections. The first section is her discovery of her situation. The second is where she tries to figure out what to do about it, and the third is where she is stretched to live out what she knows is right.

I found myself jotting down notes while reading this book. I don’t normally do that but there was quite a bit I could relate to and a lot of good things to really think about. Here are some quotes from the book that I made note of.

Section 1

"I’m scared that God will ask more of me than I feel like giving. Not so much time – I’m used to not having time. But my life, my comfort."

"I’m used to taking care of things here, worrying about Will and you. I don’t even know what those dreams are anymore."

"We’ve got to figure something else out, Heather. I can’t keep working these hours; you can’t keep up this Jonesin’ stuff, because at the end of the day, we’re both still miserable even though we quote, have it all."

"We tend to fit the gospel into our lives and not our lives into the gospel, Jace."

"We’ve sold our souls by selling our time to the highest bidder."

"It seems like people in my parents’ generation knew how to keep from overloading themselves. Or maybe they just didn’t complain about it like we do. Haven’t figured out which."

Section 2

"I’m seeing firsthand what it means to be in the world but not of it."

"I’d rather use more grace for having tried and gotten it wrong than for not having tried at all."

"God is found in locales you’ve never imagined; you’ll meet Him in all sorts of faces and places you never thought possible."

Section 3

"Mr. Purpose has offered his hand, I’ve placed mine in his, and we’re riding along to someplace I’ve probably never dreamed of."

"I could have been in my house at this moment, sitting on my plush couch with a cup of warm tea, a Bible in my lap, and a study book beside me begging God to make me whole while doing none of His dirty work. But no. I cut rot off tomatoes in a roach infested kitchen off of North Avenue. It didn’t get any better than this. I can’t believe I get to be here."

"God wants us to care for the poor and the lonely and the sick, not just for their sake, but for ours. Because in this, we become like Him, growing a bigger heart than we ever thought possible."

"Don’t die in the desert of your Christian radio, Pottery Barn lives."

"We can only change the world by changing ourselves."

"Sometimes we fail to notice a shadow darting through trees and jumping over the river just out of our gaze, until one day, we realize how precious these years are, how more precious the next ones will be, and how we’d better confront the shadow if we want to live in peace."