GOD'S PATIENT PURSUIT OF MY SOUL

A passionate Christian faith journey.

“I had been happy to move along in my life, never really noticing Who got me there, thinking I’d done most of the work myself,” writes Manion in her intriguing nonfiction debut. “I’d been more interested in the journey itself until then, less aware of the One guiding my way.” The account of this earlier mindset is grounded in glimpses of her autobiography, a faith narrative that effectively begins when she’s 16 in Bloomington, Indiana, and has her first intense religious feeling of revelation. The amiable, inviting narrative that unfolds will be familiar to readers of Christian faith narratives: the story arc of the wayward believer coming slowly and haltingly to born-again faith. The author returns repeatedly to the concept that God’s spiritual promptings can be subtle but persistent. “Most of us barely notice them, like birds in the sky or white noise in a room,” Manion writes. “It took years and years of training myself to listen and obey Jesus’ Spirit nudging me.” Sometimes that nudging feels more distant, especially when Manion begins to embrace running her own business, with, as she puts it, a driven, Type A achiever shrugging off her flabby stay-at-home-mom persona and stretching new muscles of independence. This sits in pointed contrast to another strand in the narrative: the idea of finding repose in faith. Paying attention to the presence of God “without thinking, without agenda, without judgment” is a challenge for Type A people like the author who might balk at the Zen-like concept of “doing nothing attentively.” In clear and engaging prose, Manion paints an inviting picture of a passionate Christian faith that isn’t the sole arena of “saints, mystics, and theologians.” The author effectively personalizes the experience of awakening to faith; Christian readers will be fascinated.

A busy and action-oriented woman discovers her inner faith in this warm and winning memoir