Book Notes: Mary's Way

I am the kind of person who likes to dive right into a book. I fully commit, reading quickly and absorbing the story or purpose during the precious few free moments I find during the day. I enjoy how different authors’ develop their characters or forward their message through the written word. Catholicmom.com’s latest book Mary’s Way: The Power of Entrusting Your Child to God by Judy Landrieu Klein was a book that though I enjoyed as a whole, I could not read in my typical fashion.

[Tweet "Story of surrender: 'Mary's Way' by @jklein60. Reviewer @KateTaliaferro: readers, bring tissues."]

Judy Klein’s life has been tumultuous, to put it lightly. Her family has suffered through the pains of death, addiction, debilitating anxiety and many other trials. Additionally, Klein worked through a series of conversions on her way to Catholicism. She had to overcome extreme feminism and an overwhelming need for control along her journey. Reflecting back, Klein demonstrates how the major events of Mary’s life provide a unique lens for understanding the trials she and her family have walked through.

As each chapter of her life unfolds, Klein explores how the more she surrendered to God’s will, the more she emulated Mary’s fiat or yes to God’s plan at the Annunciation. It allowed her to grow through her trials, seeing how God can use even the most devastating moments as channels for grace.

Learning to Stand in the Tension

Klein’s ability to impact her readers’ hearts, especially my own, comes through her gift to tell a story gently while still offering the reader the full weight of what happened. Her stories wrenched my heart in ways that few books ever have. Consequently, this is not a book to push through. It’s one to cry over, re-read, maybe cry again, and together with Klein see how there truly was light and grace through it all. Klein herself puts it best:

One must stand in the tension between the grief of death and the hope of new life to embrace resurrection’s paradox: it is through death that we find life, by dying that we rise, and only by losing our life that we find it.

If you are struggling with your own fiat, this book is for you. If you aren’t quite sure what it means to surrender your life to God’s will, this book is definitely for you. If you need encouragement as you seek to discover your fiat, this book is absolutely for you. Just make sure you have tissues at the ready.

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Copyright 2016 Kate Taliaferro