I just got back from Haiti on Thursday. I had bought this book at the local library book sale this spring and found that I was drawn to this story more now because I had just experienced the adventures of a missionary life for a week.

She was 27 when she was dismissed from a missionary school. She was seen as too old and not good enough for the missionary lifestyle. Had she listened to them, thousands of people in China would have missed out on the Good News. She cared for almost two hundred orphan children.

Gladys Alyward's life is inspiring to me. She was a very strong woman who handled life difficulties gracefully. God was truly at work throughout her life.

Towards the beginning of the book, Gladys had taken a job in Wales rescuing girls on the street. "As much as she loved the job, though, something was missing. Yes, she was doing very useful work, but she wasn't doing it in China, where she knew God wanted her to be" (23).

Chazown

Craig Groeschel writes an easy-to-read book about discovering your purpose. The chapters are perfect for our Twitter-trained brains. Short chapters make it easy to take a break if you need to.

I read a book that was similar in the theme of finding purpose by Mark Batterson. I liked Batterson’s style of writing better, but that does not mean that others won’t connect with Groeschel’s style.

Groeschel’s book was a good reminder of Proverbs 29.18 KJV: Where there is no vision, the people perish.

“Are you willing to let God disturb you with dreams so big that you don’t know how they’ll be accomplished” (15)? That was a very challenging question for me. I am still pondering it.

“He sends you where you don’t want to go to learn what you thought you already knew” (21).

“Setbacks are often setups for God to act” (23).

Given where I am currently at in life, these few quotes from the book were really powerful to me.

I like that there was an online component that complimented the book. I took a spiritual gifts test online and it was really interesting to me to confirm how God has made me.

I would recommend this book.

I reviewed this book for Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers Blogging for Books. I received this book for free in exchange for a review of the book.