The Sacred Echo

As a lay person, I enjoy when someone writes an easy to read,deeply personal book like The Sacred Echo. Sometimes, we just need to be reminded to listen to what God is saying over and over in our lives. Many writers are afraid to get personal with their readers, because they don't want their theology picked apart. Feinberg goes to the mat with her beliefs and for that I am sure she will get thrown against the ropes! The personal accounts of this are well presented with some stories begging to be read again and again. Congratulations to Feinberg for her best book yet.

I read Margaret Feinberg's, "the Sacred echo" while attending to my dying mother. I found great comfort in the text as relating to hearing the voice of God even in the midst of grief and sadness. When she penned these words; "....the words of God are life, they bring life, they instill life, they bring back to life. His words come alive not just in our minds, but in our hearts, as holy reverberarion of transforming power," I felt they had been written just for me. I felt that even in the face of death, God speaks his peace and assurance to us if we listen. I could not have read a better book at this time in my life.

When I read non-fiction Christian books they usually fall into one of two categories. The first, and most popular kind are the books birthed out of a successful sermon series the author has done. I'm NOT knocking this approach, I'm just labeling them as mostly teaching in nature. The teaching can be challenging, but mostly it's educational in design. The other category would be a book that is challenging to the reader through and through. The kind of book that makes me feel like the author has been impressed by God to write what is on their heart. I would put The Sacred Echo in the latter category. Reading The Sacred Echo felt like reading a letter from a friend. Sure, it was teaching me things and bringing some insight to my life; but mostly it was speaking to parts of my own soul that only a dear friend would know about. Margaret has a fantastic communication style that disarmed me even when she was talking about some sticky topics. For example, Why doesn't God always seem to answer our prayers? Does God care about my pain? Why doesn't God answer my questions like I want him to? are some of the thoughts she speaks to. She consistently brings her points back to scripture and real-life experiences. It's a rare author willing to expose her own doubts, fears, and mistakes in a book; and at times it made me uncomfortable (in a good way) to read about her own struggles in learning to hear God's voice. The Sacred Echo is a book that I highly recommend; more specifically it would be a wonderful small group study book or accountability partner study book. This might be my highest honor, but it could potentially show up in some Christmas presents I give this year!

For the last couple of weeks I've been reading a book called the Sacred Echo by Margaret Feinberg. Reading isn't really the full verb I should be using here. More than reading I've been identifying, feeling, relating and experiencing the ideas about the voice of God expressed in this book. Margaret gives a very vulnerable look into what it really means to hear God's voice calling out to us and reverberating in our lives. As I picked this book up, I quietly wondered where my thoughts were on the topic. I was once again grimly reminded of the distance I have in my heart to listening for God's voice. I feel like for myself, and most of my surrounding immediate community, the topic of God's voice and how he is speaking to us is dormant in our everyday language. It's just not talked about very much. As I got into the book, I felt like a lot of good things were said and then I got really excited. I realized she wasn't spouting theories, she was telling stories. I LOVE stories. I love hearing about moments in time where a person becomes aware of something God was trying to speak to them. Nothing is more powerful. I don't care who the speaker or writer is, no three point sermon or seven step book can ever compare to the stories that exist in the world around us of how God is on the move in the hearts of his children. Reading on, I found that not all of the stories were of the EPIC, "how is that possible!?" sort. There were stories of clarity and also stories of confusion. It was definitely a book to identify with. There are times when I feel like the Sacred Echo of God's voice is booming and other times when the cavern of life is frighteningly silent. In the midst of all of that we have an opportunity to learn about and draw near to our Creator. We also learn a lot about ourselves. As Margaret continued to unpack her thoughts about the Sacred Echo coupled with her stories, she reached a great balance of starting a dialogue about God's voice and allowing God's voice to speak through the stories she was writing. I felt some significant moments in this book where I wasn't just reading about God's voice...I was hearing it.

The Sacred Echo by Margaret Feinberg is a lovely devotional about listening for God to speak to you. Feinberg exposes some of her deepest and most painful conversations with God to show the reader how to learn to hear God and understand him. She encourages daily reading and rereading of the Bible to learn to discern God's words from our own. It's a fascinating, insightful read with a powerful but quiet message. God does still speak today, and he longs to speak to our hearts, but we need to learn his language and then listen for the sacred echo. Feinberg uses the story of Elijah who didn't find God in a raging fire, powerful earthquake or fierce wind, but in the quiet voice that spoke to him the words he needed to hear. This is the perfect book to settle in with at the end of a long busy day. It helped to center my mind and soul on the Lord.