5 Minutes with Jesus: Making Today Matter

In this thin devotional guide, bestseller Walsh (The Storm Inside) encourages Christians to spend five minutes a day with God, since God “can do more within us in five minutes than if we spent five hours on our own.” Each devotion features a short reflection on a specific topic (such as loneliness, loss, doubt, and love), a one-sentence moral, and several related Bible verses. For example, Walsh tells the story of a woman angry with God after the death of her husband yet reluctant to express her anger to God through prayer, and counsels honesty with God in all things: “God knows your whole story and He loves you.” In another devotion, she focuses on her husband’s habit of searching for all the facts before making a decision, turning the quest for certainty around into the moral that we should trust God. In moments of grief and pain, many people try to push feelings deep and not deal with them, but Walsh encourages readers to confront them since “when our pains is greatest, God is the closest.” Walsh doesn’t veer far from what for her are simple truths, which her many followers will appreciate and enjoy. (Aug.)