BookSneeze Review - Stumbling Into Grace, by Lisa Harper

Stumbling into Grace: confessions of a Sometimes Spiritually Clumsy Woman is a book I knew I'd be able to identify with as soon as I read the title. I manage to open my mouth only to change feet far too often, and I had a feeling this might be the story of someone similar. With chapter titles like "The Very Real Problem With Pantyhose", I was expecting this to be a good read.

What I was not expecting was for this to take me a month. Not because it was a difficult read, certainly not because it was boring, but because this is less "Confessions" and more "Bible Study and Life Application Guide." Every chapter comes with a series of questions for group discussion or personal study, Bible passages to read through, and the suggestion to make a journal entry starting with for example "So Jesus, today I've been thinking about , and..." Meatier spiritual food than I was expecting, but good nevertheless.

From the beginning "God doesn't just see us; He gazes adoringly at us. He doesn't simply notice us; He moves heaven and earth on our behalf" via quotes collected from others - Mark Twain's "Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." and Anne Lamott's "You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do," to the vindictively absurd "I think people who peddle pornography for a living should be forced to share cramped, windowless apartments with camels who have irritable bowel syndrome." This is a book full of one liners and longer passages I shall be re-reading.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Tia