Refine & Restore by Rachel C Swanson

Swanson felt like many Christians do some time in their spiritual life, like something is missing. The spiritual high from salvation was long gone. The Word seemed dry. Her prayers felt empty. Jesus no longer felt close. She wondered about her purpose and the meaning of her spiritual life.

Swanson shares her experiences as God was refining and restoring her soul. She has written this book with a view to helping readers go from merely surviving to thoroughly thriving. She warns readers that this kind of transformation takes hard soul work.

The book is a combination memoir and lessons learned from experiences. Swanson came out of Mormonism. Counseling helped her deal with lies she believed about God and other issues keeping her from experiencing a deeper intimacy with God. She also experienced times of anxiety and has found medication essential to her well being.

The most interesting topic in her book was her writing about the current state of the church and Christianity in the U.S. She writes of the “cruise-ship Christianity that has poisoned our church culture in the United States and some other countries...” (Loc 601/2679) We like to be comfortable and safe, not getting out of our comfort zones to engage those who need the hope we have.

Swanson urges us to be careful of what we let in our lives. She explores issues that may detract from our intimacy with God, such as money, body image, sexuality, and anxiety. She suggests establishing boundaries with that which does not build us up, including people.

This is a good book for career age Christians who have lost the fire of their faith and like teaching given in the context of personal memoir. This book will give you issues to look at and suggestions to deal with them. As an older Christian, I found the same suggestions for re-igniting the fire many previous authors have given.

You can read an excerpt here.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Rachel C Swanson is a best-selling author, speaker, and accredited Christian life coach. Her best-selling book, Big and Little Coloring Devotional, was birth by her own struggle to keep it together as a busy mama of three children under two years old. She lives with her family in Emmett, Idaho.

FaithWords, 272 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.