Security for Doubting Hearts -- A Confident Heart

In A Confident Heart, Renee Swope begins by sharing a vivid image that came to her at a moment when she was experiencing self-doubt.  As she stood in front of her mirror, getting ready for an event that she doubted she was competent to handle, she turned around and saw a shadow on the wall, distorting the image of her body.  When she faced the light, she didn't see the shadow; when she turned from the light, the shadow was there, larger than life.  The lesson carried over into her relationship with God -- when she turned her back to His light, she would encounter the shadows of doubt, but when she faced His light the shadows disappeared.

Throughout the book Renee uses examples from scripture and from her own life to point out how doubt keeps Christians from living with a heart that is confident and secure in God's promises.  She leads her readers to understand some of the blessings of living in that security with thoughts such as these:

• In our experience with God, we can go beyond believing in Him to believing Him to the point of relying on him, no matter what we feel.
• "Until God's love is enough, nothing else will be."
• Like a radio has AM and FM frequencies, we can have AM (against me) or FM (for me) thoughts.  Our own thoughts are often AM, but God's are always FM.
• "Jesus did not die on the cross just to get us out of hell and into heaven.  He died on the cross to get Himself out of heaven and into us!" 

In the last chapter of her book, Renee summarizes with a list of doubts we might face in our lives and the truths that God offers to counter those doubts.  That list alone makes the book well worth reading.  I can see myself referring back to this book for encouragement, in whole and in part, multiple times when doubt comes calling.  I would recommend this book to anyone who ever suffers from or is trapped by self-doubt.

Available August 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

This book was provided to me free of charge for my honest review from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.