Friends, I first had the pleasure of “meeting” author Catherine McNiel some months ago when she wrote a timely piece for the Open Door Sisterhood blog, where I was serving as editor. From the start, I was impressed with not only her writerly savvy but her strikingly wise spirit. So when I was recently offered the opportunity read an early copy of her newest release, I jumped.

That book is All Shall Be Well: Awakening to God’s Presence in His Messy, Abundant World, and it just debuted on Amazon as the #1 New Release in Spiritual Meditations. I love every bit of its title as it tells exactly what the book is all about:

• All Shall Be Well… God’s great promise to His beloved people and our great hope — that all shall be well, if not in this life, then in the next.
• Awakening to… Coming to awareness of what what God has already put before us. As Catherine puts it, “He has promised to meet us, he has promised to be found — if we can open our distracted, weary, frightened eyes and see.”
• God’s Presence… Yes! He is here, He is here, He is here.
• And finally, in His Messy, Abundant World… The juxtapositioning of mess and abundance, brokenness and beauty. Of beholding them both and finding God’s nearness in them together.

Chapter by chapter, Catherine offers insights that allow us to better see what God has provided for us in His created world, as well as the goodness and comfort that is immediately available for our partaking. As she relates personal stories — from her family experiencing the solar eclipse, to their exploring the headwaters of the Mississippi — she invites us to find our own in hers.

I found lessons and beauty in every part of the book as Catherine traces the seasons and relates them to life, but my favorite among these must be Autumn, and especially her chapter on Twilight — no doubt because this is where I find myself in the seasons of life. As I read, my pencil traced constantly across the page, underlining passage after passage I wished to mark in order to return it and reflect at length. Her insights brought meaning to my personal experience. They made me feel seen and known, not only by another human being, but by God Himself.

I joyfully resonated with Catherine’s journey of discovery — of self, of God, of His world. I highly recommend her book to anyone who has ever asked herself the question, Where is God in this?

Thanks to Tyndale/NavPress for providing me this book free of charge. All opinions are mine.

From the back cover:

In this beautiful and broken world, God is here.

The heavens declare the glory of God . . . but are we listening? Yes, God created this world, but sometimes we forget that he hasn’t left―that his redemptive, creative work happens still today, right here under our feet. So when we seek for God and study his truth, how much are we missing if we don’t awaken to all he has placed in the soil and sky?

God made this world of light and darkness, summer and winter, life and death. What does he intend to teach us in these ever-repeating cycles and seasons? Seamlessly weaving biblical truths into everyday life, Catherine McNiel will help you discover an unbelievable reality: God meets and transforms you in the mess and abundance of every mundane moment.

Genre: Non-fiction/Religion/Christian Living/Spritual Growth

Publication date: August 2019

About the author:

Catherine McNiel is a writer and speaker who seeks to open eyes to God’s creative, redemptive work in each day—while caring for three kids, two jobs, and one enormous garden. She’s on the lookout for wisdom, beauty, and iced coffee. Catherine is the author of “All Shall Be Well: Awakening to God’s Presence in His Messy, Abundant World” and “Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline” which was an ECPA finalist for New Author.

Connect with the author: Website | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn| Facebook

Buy it here.

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