Broke: What Financial Desperation Revealed About God’s Abundance

In the vein of Ann Voskamp and Sarah Young, Rivadeneira (Known and Loved: 52 Devotions from the Psalms) offers a devotional perspective on financial desperation in the suburbs. Balancing between mystical mirth and spiritualized snark, she reflects on her skepticism about God’s trustworthiness and interweaves life stories of misfortune and small miracles to help readers find God and also “find him good.” A sterling storyteller, Rivadeneira spins a narrative of finding benediction and a benevolent God amidst economic trial that will speak to fellow suburbanites. Some will find it difficult to empathize with a woman who never fully reveals the reasons for her middle-class financial hardship and mentions receiving book deals before bankruptcy; the breaking of an expensive watch; enjoying a cabin getaway; owning an original painting; and begrudgingly moving her children from a private Christian school to an excellent public institution. Still, she addresses what she understands to be a “First-World” dilemma with depth and heart, and her message is a timely and virtuous one, fortified with scripture and apt analogies that speak to many a weary soul. Agency: Alive Communications. (Apr.)