I have always had a heart for missions and I have been interested in Africa since I was a teenager. For these reasons, I was excited to read Katie Davis Majors’ Daring to Hope: Finding God’s Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful.
In Daring to Hope, Katie shares stories from her life and ministry in Uganda that emphasize God’s goodness during those times in her life when God didn’t act the way she wanted God to. Throughout the book, Katie continually wrestles with the question, “What do you do when God doesn’t show up in the way that you asked Him to?” It's a question we all wrestle with when we are honest with ourselves.
As she wrestles with her answer to this question, Katie tells stories that often appear hopeless. More often than not, they involve death and despair. In Katie's words, “I unknowingly believed that when things turned out well, God’s blessing was evident. And so I kept asking and waiting for the beauty to be revealed on my terms.”
When God doesn’t behave how Katie begs him to, she concludes, “This reality left me with two choices: either God is not actually who He says He is or He is and I needed to relearn how to know Him even in hardship.” This is one of the stand out quotes from the book.
As Katie shares stories of brokenness, she weaves them together with various Scripture passages including Jacob wrestling with God, God providing a ram for Abraham when he’s asked to sacrifice Isaac, and the book of Habakkuk. As Katie wrestles with these scriptures, she learns, “A faith that trusts Him only when the ending is good is a fickle faith. A faith that trusts Him regardless of the outcome is real.”
Some of the most powerful stories Katie shares in Daring to Hope are those that involve her in someone else’s healing. In her words, “Jesus was to bring about my own healing by drawing me into someone else’s.” Here is some of the beauty in our walk with God.
As Katie walks with others, she realizes, “Maybe we are not called to alleviate suffering (as I had once imagined) as much as we are called to enter into the suffering of others and walk with them through it. We mourn with those who mourn, we weep with those who weep, we cry out with them for something better.” Katie goes on to explain, “The most powerful thing we can do for another person is not to try to fix his or her pain or make it go away but to acknowledge it. I cannot heal… But I can be a witness.”
This is a heart stirrer. I cried, I loved, I was with her when her friend died. She has a gift for describing her own pain, but she also has a real gift for describing hope in dire circumstances and still coming to the conclusion that God is good and gives good gifts.
And on that note, this would make a great gift for the friends and family that are bookworms! This gift of a book deserves to be shared.
And much love to Ann Voskamp for writing the forward! These two women have hearts that beat for God and all the good that He can and does do for others.
In Daring to Hope, Katie shares stories from her life and ministry in Uganda that emphasize God’s goodness during those times in her life when God didn’t act the way she wanted God to. Throughout the book, Katie continually wrestles with the question, “What do you do when God doesn’t show up in the way that you asked Him to?” It's a question we all wrestle with when we are honest with ourselves.
As she wrestles with her answer to this question, Katie tells stories that often appear hopeless. More often than not, they involve death and despair. In Katie's words, “I unknowingly believed that when things turned out well, God’s blessing was evident. And so I kept asking and waiting for the beauty to be revealed on my terms.”
When God doesn’t behave how Katie begs him to, she concludes, “This reality left me with two choices: either God is not actually who He says He is or He is and I needed to relearn how to know Him even in hardship.” This is one of the stand out quotes from the book.
As Katie shares stories of brokenness, she weaves them together with various Scripture passages including Jacob wrestling with God, God providing a ram for Abraham when he’s asked to sacrifice Isaac, and the book of Habakkuk. As Katie wrestles with these scriptures, she learns, “A faith that trusts Him only when the ending is good is a fickle faith. A faith that trusts Him regardless of the outcome is real.”
Some of the most powerful stories Katie shares in Daring to Hope are those that involve her in someone else’s healing. In her words, “Jesus was to bring about my own healing by drawing me into someone else’s.” Here is some of the beauty in our walk with God.
As Katie walks with others, she realizes, “Maybe we are not called to alleviate suffering (as I had once imagined) as much as we are called to enter into the suffering of others and walk with them through it. We mourn with those who mourn, we weep with those who weep, we cry out with them for something better.” Katie goes on to explain, “The most powerful thing we can do for another person is not to try to fix his or her pain or make it go away but to acknowledge it. I cannot heal… But I can be a witness.”
This is a heart stirrer. I cried, I loved, I was with her when her friend died. She has a gift for describing her own pain, but she also has a real gift for describing hope in dire circumstances and still coming to the conclusion that God is good and gives good gifts.
And on that note, this would make a great gift for the friends and family that are bookworms! This gift of a book deserves to be shared.
And much love to Ann Voskamp for writing the forward! These two women have hearts that beat for God and all the good that He can and does do for others.
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