How's Your Soul?: Why Everything That Matters Starts with the Inside You

Suggesting that God would want the souls he created to be healthy, Smith, lead pastor of the City Church in Seattle (Love Like Jesus), offers a disjointed collection of ways to rest in that knowledge instead of trying to give one's own soul what it needs. Just because one has faith doesn't mean the soul is healthy, he claims. Smith taps personal stories, biblical accounts, and contemporary culture for truths about what the soul needs to be satisfied, and conveys them in a sermon's rambling fashion. His "four Rs" talking points of rest, responsibility, restraint, and relationship are taken from the Genesis account of God's creation of the soul: rest replaces worry, responsibility gives life a purpose, restraint leads to maturity, and relationship brings in helpers. With God as the anchor through life's toils%E2%80%94and the irrational, undependable feelings that accompany them%E2%80%94Smith says the soul can find what it needs to weather the storms, but he warns that it's futile to rely on anything else, including our own efforts, to satisfy a soul that hungers for God. For firm believers in the Christian message of redemption and faith, Smith's book will ease worries and strengthen the reader's commitment to God's plan. Agent: Esther Fedorkevich, Fed Agency. (Nov.)