Remarkable Hope by Shauna Letellier

We experience a string of catastrophes and we wonder about the hope we are to have in the promises of God. Hope is to be the anchor of our soul but we feel like our boat is capsizing. We are overwhelmed by disappointment.

Letellier shares her teaching on hope in a unique way. She expands on stories from the gospels, adds a teaching and then a prayer. Her stories are of people experiencing disappointment in their relationship with Jesus. There are Simeon and John the Baptist. Both had expected a liberating Savior. Simeon saw a baby and John saw the inside of a prison cell. Mary and Martha expected Jesus to come immediately and heal their brother Lazarus but watched him die instead. The disciples on the way to Emmaus had expected great things but wondered if they had believed in a false Messiah. Letellier tells eight stories.

My favorite story was of Jairus. Letellier began her story showing how Jairus cared for the synagogue. She caught me up in Jairus' emotional desire to have Jesus heal his daughter and the pain he must have experienced when the notice came she had died. How irritated he must have been at Jesus' delay by healing the bleeding woman. How disappointed he must have felt, thinking all was lost.

I like her teaching after each of the stories. She helps us understand God does not always remove the trials. God's timing is not ours. We think it is too late and surely God has abandoned us. Yet in the end we receive more than we could ever ask or think.

This book is good for people puzzled by the unpredictability of God. It is good for people who like to learn through stories. It is good for people who want to learn how to dive into a Bible story through imagination. Letellier challenges us too, such as in the story of Peter walking on the water. Our we devoted to Jesus Himself or to what we think He should be doing for us?

I like this way of teaching but I do have one caveat. I am always a bit hesitant with fictionalized accounts of Jesus and His ministry. Imagining what Jesus might have said and putting it in print makes me nervous. I do recommend this book, however, as an innovative way to gather glimpses of how God revives hope in a way we could never have imagined.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Shauna Letellier is the author of Remarkable Faith and has had her writing featured in a number of periodicals. She is a graduate of Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska. She has degrees in family and biblical studies and teaches in her local church. She lives in South Dakota with her husband and three sons. You can find out more and read her blog at www.shaunaletellier.com.

FaithWords, 224 pp.

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