No Elevator to Everest by Will Acuff Book Review

About the Book:

Will Acuff shares his vulnerable journey from deep despair to radiant joy in this compelling call for us to move beyond our tired assumptions about God and into a life lived in daily joy. This transformative book offers nothing less than a new way of engaging with Christ, yourself, and others. No Elevator to Everest invites you to discover:

• A liberated self-understanding as you see how Christianity embraces both the knowledge of self and the knowledge of God

• Encouragement and resilience for your own circumstances as you read one family’s story of experiencing God’s tenderness in the midst of clinical depression, trauma, and disability

• Daily practices to move you from rare “mountaintop” experiences or stale frameworks to everyday heart-level connections with God

• Joy that is not dependent on what is happening to you but flourishes from what is happening in you

With a refreshing emphasis on emotional health, Spirit-led self-awareness, and intimacy with God, No Elevator to Everest guides us beyond mere survival into a life of soul-deep peace and spiritual thriving.

My Review:

This book is a very personal account of Acuff's spiritual journey. He tells of many experiences caring for his son and his autistic needs as well as his wife's battle with depression. He shares how he learned to live in the Spirit through Spirit-led self awareness. He shares what he experienced and learned while attending a trauma camp. He relates his own worries and the practical steps he took to work through them. He includes the steps of his breathing exercises, gratitude practices, journaling, stepping into the stories Jesus told, and how he worked through money worries.

This book will be appreciated by people who learn best through reading of another person's journey over objective teaching from Scripture. I recommend it to those experiencing a great deal of stress, such as from intense care giving.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Will Acuff, a pastor’s kid with a master’s in biblical studies, co-founded Corner to Corner, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic equity by launching underestimated entrepreneurs out of historically low-income communities in Nashville. As a father and husband navigating family health challenges, Will found renewal through trauma counseling and contemplative faith, embracing paths through pain to rediscover God’s love and guidance.

David C Cook, 208 pages.

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

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)