Rock-Bottom Blessings: A Review

Last updated on: September 13, 2013 at 10:10 am by Guest Contributor

48 Comments

Rock-Bottom Blessings: A Review 2013-09-13T10:10:46-06:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By Tim Muldoon

Have you ever experienced Facebook jealousy, the kind that emerges when you see the photos or comments that your friends post? Perfect vacations, sweetly smiling children, anniversaries or other major life events? Recently my wife shared with me one of the quotes that caught her attention when reacting to this phenomenon: it’s like you are comparing your everyday life to someone else’s highlight reel. It’s the newest digital twist on the old grass-is-greener phenomenon: it’s hard to see our own reality when everyone else’s looks so much better.

Enter Karen Beattie. She has written us a very generous book, for she refuses to tell a happy-go-lucky story which will raise your spirits and then later make you wonder why you aren’t as spirituality gifted as she is. As a writer of an adoption memoir (full disclosure: same publisher), I know that telling the world about your messy life requires first a willingness to relive where you experienced pain—no easy task—but also a readiness to allow others to share it with you so that they might learn from your experience.

Rock Bottom Blessings is not a straightforward “here is how God has worked in my life!” kind of book. To be fair, there is a place for that kind of testimony, especially in a world which sometimes doesn’t want to entertain the idea that God wants a place in it. Instead, it is a book that simply tells a story: I’ve struggled hard with relationships, money, and wanting a family, and somewhere along the way I found myself asking really deep questions about the meaning of it all. Here is someone whose discovery of God was not through books or sermons, but rather through the most bare of crucibles, namely the Biblical Job-like experience of suffering.

If you or someone dear to you has experienced infertility, and who finds herself (or even himself) in a dark place, the gift of this book will at the very least help her (or him) to understand that she/he is not alone. More broadly, the book points to the search for God in the midst of hardship, and the emergence of faith not as a kind of triumphal discovery of truth as much as a wearing-down of resistance, smoothing us like sea glass.

Visit the Patheos Book Club for more conversation on Rock-Bottom Blessings.

Tim Muldoon is the author of Longing to Love and (with Sue Muldoon) the forthcoming Six Sacred Rules for Families. He is a frequent contributor to Patheos.

Previous Post

August 31, 2013

Talking 'Bout Sex ... and Faith: A Q&A with Kate Ott

Next Post

September 15, 2013 The Geography of Memory: A Q&A with Jeanne Murray Walker

Recent Comments

48 Comments | Leave a Comment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Author Q&A Book Review Christian Living Church Leadership Stump a Scholar Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2022 March 2021 October 2020 August 2020 February 2019 November 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which principle does the "Golden Rule" teach?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rest on the Sabbath Pray aloud Treat others as you want to be treated Spread the Gospel