Book Review: Living Close to God (When You’re Not Good At It) by Gene Edwards

Living Close to God (When You’re Not Good at It) by Gene Edwards
ASIN: B004KPM25W
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
Retail: $13.99

This is a difficult review for me to write! Where to start? Umm… well, let me start by telling you what the book is about. This is from the product description:
Have you tried harder to have a consistent time with the Lord—but failed? Does your mind wander during prayer, and do you run out of things to say? Do you question why it is so hard to fellowship with the Lord?

Stop feeling like a failure at daily devotions and start walking every day with the Lord who loves you.

Gene Edwards faced these same questions and struggles. And he found a better way to walk with the Lord than merely trying harder to pray and read the Bible. In Living Close to God (When You're Not Good at It) you will discover that loving God means much more than doing your best to serve Him. You will find ways to start your day with Christ, beginning with your first conscious thought in the morning. You will learn how to fellowship with Him during even the most demanding days. And when you go to the Scriptures, you will talk with Him in a two-way conversation—just as His first followers did. Includes a small-group discussion guide and a guide
for your own relationship with God.
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I have had the same exact issues that this book attempts to address and I was hopeful that it would be helpful for me. From the start, though, I felt that this book was only for those ‘special’ people who had the feeling of being ‘unspiritual’- not the usual individual who feels like this. {there is a difference, isn’t there? …is there??} I’d be one of those ‘usual’ unspiritual people. I fall asleep while praying- sometimes I have a terrible time even starting a prayer.

But that is where we differ, I suppose, because although my prayers are not like those who can pray without ceasing for hours (with fervor that never seems to lessen), I do not feel that I lack fellowship with the Lord {I need a closer fellowship but I do have some}. Perhaps because of this lack of feeling the void the author felt, I had a difficult time with being able to use the suggestions and advice. Also, my personality is completely opposite from Edwards. I am more of the type to stop and listen before I have the urge to do. Edwards is a doer that had to learn to stop.

I need a book that turns this slow, listener into a doer.

One other thing that nagged at me throughout much of his book, his discoveries were something that I had heard of before- I just could not remember where, when, etc. {I still cannot recall} Reading all the way through the book, it is brought to our attention that the author also discovered that his approach wasn’t unique (as in others had attempted to help those who feel they do not have a ‘natural spiritual bent’ without focusing on meditation and prayer). Edwards mentioned authors that I personally do not recall knowing about before and I am looking forward to searching out at least two new titles.

This may be a good book to help those who need to learn to slow down or stop altogether in order to find their relationship with God to be more fulfilling- or find it at all. It isn’t a good book for me. There were some good points and advice through the book and for those I am better off for reading it.

***Disclaimer: I received this book from WaterBrook Multnomah as part of their Blogging for Books program for free in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given. See Disclosure/Policies.***