I'm in this with you, girl

Remember God.  When I saw Annie F. Downs was releasing a book by that title, I instantly knew I was going to love it.  When I read what it was going to be about, I was positive I was going to love it.  I’ve been a long time fan of Annie Downs and her books are some of my favorites. Remember God is no different.  In fact, it may be my favorite book of all time!

Before we dive in to how amazing this book is, I need to let you know that I received this book from the publisher, but all thoughts and opinions are my own!  I literally was going to buy this book myself but was so excited when I saw I was able to review it!

pin this to Pinterest!

Annie Downs and I are in similar seasons.  I know, I’m about half her age, but we’re both single and would love to get married.  I know many of you are in the same season as well!  The only problem is the obvious- God hasn’t led us to our future husbands.  We meet guys and get our hopes up, only to be let down when they aren’t what we thought they were.  Sound familiar?

I think that is why I was so excited to read this book.  The whole book reads like a story, one Annie is telling of her own life, in particular a certain year where she wasn’t sure God was even kind.  Here is an excerpt from the back of the book:

“I know God is loving; I know He is good; I believe He is big and powerful.  But sometimes I wonder if He is really kind- really deeply always kind.”

Have you ever felt that before?  Have you ever wondered if God was even kind because He wasn’t giving you your heart’s desires?  Or He wasn’t giving you what you thought He promised you?

I think we all have.

And I also think we all know that God doesn’t think the same way we do and His plans are not always our plans.

So what are you supposed to do when your heart’s desires are left unmet?  Or you aren’t given what you were so sure God promised you?

You remember God.

But what does that even mean?

If you’ve been around All Things Allison Marie for any length of time, you know I am a huge fan of remembering God’s past faithfulness.  I truly think that is part of remembering God.  Remembering how God has shown up and blessed you in the past is so important in trusting Him for the future.  I shared these verses in my last blog post, but I’m loving them right now and want to share them again.

“And I said, “This is my anguish;
But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
I will remember the works of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds.
Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?”

Psalm 77:10-13

Next to Psalm 77 in the margins of my Bible, I simply wrote the date and “remember God.”

You may be struggling right now with believing that God truly is kind, but you can look back and see how He was kind before in your life.

So yes, He is kind.  But maybe that kindness just does not look like what we thought it would look like.  What if what we actually wanted was the very antonym of God’s best for us?  What if He was being kind in actually withholding something from us?  What if the “limp”, as Annie called it in the book, is actually the blessing?

To take it a step further, what if being single was the blessing and God’s way of being kind to us?

If I am completely honest, at this moment in my life I am glad I am single.  Not because I don’t want a boyfriend, because I do.  But because the guys that I wanted to date in my life were not guys that God wanted me to date, and I actually see that now.  He was being kind by protecting me from those guys.

That’s God’s kindness- keeping us from what we thought we wanted when it isn’t His best.

I don’t know what you are going through right now, but I have a feeling you are struggling with something.  Maybe an unmet expectation?  Broken relationship?  Grief?

Can I encourage you to remember God?  Not just by looking back at God’s past faithfulness, but by also looking around you.  His kindness is everywhere, even when it doesn’t look like it.  Look for Him in the little things and simple moments.  I promise you’ll find Him, because He’s there. Sometimes it just takes lots of searching and lots of prayer.  But it’s worth it because God is so faithful.

So needless to say, I highly encourage you to buy the book Remember God by Annie Downs and read it for yourself!  This is just my version of the title- she has so much wisdom to share.

I just want to share one quote from the book before I end this blog post.  It changed how I was waiting.

“If I got exactly what I wanted tomorrow, how would I want to live today?’

How would you answer that?  I know for me, I would absolutely want to be more joyful and “fully persuaded” that God was going to take care of me- in His own way.  I would want to prepare instead of sit around and sulk.  But is that how I’m actually living right now?  Is that how you’re living?  What if we decided to change?  If all else fails, we would be better versions of our single selves, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all.  In fact, it sounds like God’s kindness to me.

In this with you,

Tags : book review, books, contentment, devotion, encouragement, future husband, lifestyle, reading, singleness, trusting God