Looking for God: An Unexpected Journey Through Tattoos, Tofu & Pronouns

A former teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, Ortberg presents a candid compilation of personal essays on finding God in the most unlikely times and places. Ortberg, wife to bestselling author and pastor John Ortberg, opens her highly amusing and refreshingly transparent text reminiscing about bygone years as a young mom who couldn't make time for a “quiet time.” Recalling those nonstop, hectic early parenting seasons, Ortberg admits to feeling guilty pressure from the church at large until she experienced God's presence while sitting on a park bench, watching her kids play. She realized that particular God encounter “counted” as much as any quiet time did. From that moment on, Ortberg discovered a multifaceted God who delights in creating and displaying diversity from one end of creation to the other. Ortberg challenges Christians to examine their tendency to compare themselves with others, teaching them to have the courage to reach out to others selflessly and to view work as a blessed conduit to excellence. Every single offering Ortberg presents feels both beautiful and true. Christians will find themselves inhaling these fragrant written reminders of God's intimate care only to then exhale Christ's love to others in holy response. (Mar.)