Chasing God- Book review and giveaway

Chasing God by Angie Smith is a book you need to read.

There, how is that for a starter?

The thing is, I am serious!  This 203 page book rocked me to the core these past few weeks.

You see, I thought Chasing God was a good thing.  Now I know it is not.  Now I understand.  And now, like Angie, I want to do things differently.

Stop looking for Me, love.  Look at Me.  

(page 202 Chasing God)

Who else needed to read that?  I am good at looking for God.  As a matter of fact, in some seasons of my life I have even excelled at it.  I like lists.  I like books.  I like Bible Studies.  And like Angie, I was pretty sure that doing all of those things was somehow going to teach me about finding God.  But, also like Angie, all I found was I knew more about Him - not just simply KNEW HIM!

Facts and checklists and studies and concordances do not automatically bring you closer to God.

In her book Chasing God, Angie Smith takes you on her journey of learning how to know Him more closely instead of wasting time chasing Him.

Without giving it all away or quoting everything I have highlighted in my book (that would surely take pages!), let me share with you are few thoughts.  Angie's and mine!

"When we spend more of our time searching for assurance than we do acting out belief, we are chasing God (p 85)."  See, there is that chasing God thing again.  Not a good thing.  Instead we need to trust in His will and act as if we do!  So easy to say, often times so difficult to do.

"Don't wait for the miracle you think will make it clear.  Confess your unbelief and then act out of  that determination (p 90)."   This one really hit home for me.  When we were in the early stages of adoption, we wanted things to be clear.  "God, please send some sky writing," kind of clear.  It wasn't until we stepped forward in faith that things started to work out.  And yes, there was a chance that they were not going to work out the way we wanted them to.  But we would have never known either way if we were still waiting for the sky writing.

"Forgiveness is looking the pain straight in the eye and saying 'God is bigger than this' (p 123)." Ummm, yep, that one I highlighted and underlined and probably should have stamped on my forehead. Several years ago I had a disagreement with a family member that has now not spoken our family in almost 3 years.  It is hard, it is hurtful, and it makes me bitter when I think about it.  Not the right things, just being honest.  But I reminding myself over and over that God is bigger than that situation.  I may not be able to handle it, but He can!

And last one, I promise -
"...yes, He actually gives us way more than we can handle in every moment of every day.  But He also gives us Himself, which allows us to carry it all (p 131)."  Did you know that 1 Cor. 10:13 is one of the most misquoted verses of the Bible?  The verse actually talks about temptation and God HAS given us a way out of that.  Choose to say no.  But, more than we can handle?  Everyday!  And that, as Angie says, is why we need Him!

Oh, how I wish I could just go on and on.  So many good things here, but you will just have to read them for yourself.  I highly encourage you to do so.  Or maybe grab a group of friends and go through this book together.  There were plenty of times when I was reading it that I would have loved to have turned to a friend and said, "hmmm, what do you think about that?"

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Angie's book Chasing God, just fill out the rafflecopter below.

If you have read this or after you do, I would love to hear what you think as well!

Blessings,



a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can buy Chasing God from Barnes and Noble for $13.36.


Angie Smith is the wife of Todd Smith (lead singer of Dove Award winning group Selah), best-selling author of Mended, I Will Carry You, and What Women Fear, and one of the most popular speakers and blog writers in the country. She holds a Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology from Vanderbilt University and lives with her husband and daughters in Nashville, TN.


And in case Angie's name sounds familiar, yes, I reviewed her children's book Audrey Bunny!  It is equally as amazing!