Sunday, July 7, 2013

A Woman's Guide to Hearing God's Voice by Leighann McCoy

Leighann begins her book by sharing all of the serious diseases and events that bombarded her the year she wrote Spiritual Warfare for Women. While she battled Satan, surprising to her was her struggle with God. “My faith was stripped bare and I came face to face with a God I didn't understand.” (12) In this book she shares what God taught her about Himself during that war.

She admits that sometimes life stinks. “I want to explore how God uses even the stinky parts of life to reveal Himself to us.” (14)

She divides her book into four parts. In “Wrestling With God,” she explores the stories of Abraham and Jacob. A blessing comes out of the wrestling match with God. In “Where Was God When...?” she looks at Joseph, Hezekiah and the disciples. We can learn to recognize God's presence in our life. In “Let God Define Good,” she relates stores of women she knows who have grown through hard experiences. In “God Will Make a Way” we are encouraged to live with the expectation of the new thing God is doing in our life. (As of the writing, Leighann was still experiencing chemotherapy from a recurrence of her cancer. This section is especially encouraging for people going through hard times right now.)

She gives some general rules for hearing God's voice. We must allow God to speak to us through the Bible. Reading the Bible is essential for recognizing God's voice when He speaks to us in another way. He may speak through other people, through worship, through visions and dreams. Obedience to what God has already told us is necessary to hearing further. Her five tips for effective listening are great.

The weapons against the devil's attacks are prayer and God's Word. She has provided an Appendix with some Bible promises to claim but encourages us to read the Bible and find out own.

Leighann is very good at using stories of biblical characters as springboards to investigating our own experiences. Her recounting of the stories make them come alive and of real use in our own situations.

This is not a theoretical book about hearing God's voice. This book has been developed through Leighann's own experiences of hearing God in hard times. She relates many of her own stories so we can see how she learned to hear from and trust God during her most difficult days.

This is an excellent book for personal use or a small group study. She has provided questions for further thought and discussion at the end of each chapter. There are also suggestions for Personal Reflection at each chapter end.

This is the most encouraging and faith building book I have read in some time. Reading about the lessons she is learning from God, even in the midst of chemotherapy, is inspiring.

Leighann McCoy is a popular speaker and the author of Spiritual Warfare for Women. She is the prayer and women's minister at a large Southern Baptist church, where her husband serves as pastor, and has written a number of devotionals and curricula. She lives with her family in Franklin, Tennessee. Keep up with her at http://leighannmccoy.org/

Bethany House Publishers, 240 pages.


I received a complimentary egalley of this book from Bethany House for the purpose of this review.

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