Today I am going to take a bit of a side track and tell you about the book that I've talked about here in the last few days. The book is called "Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence: The Secret of Peace and Happiness". The first part is written by Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint Jure, SJ and the second part is written by St. Claude De La Colombiere, SJ. This book is about how we need to put all of our trust in God alone and realize that whatever happens to us, whether it appears good or bad, is the best thing that could happen to us at that moment. It also shows us that if we surrender our will to God's will, we will find true peace and happiness (joy!). I would like to tell you a story about this book that brought it all together for me.
I have a friend, Anita, who owns a religious bookstore called "On a Wing and a Prayer" in Plano, IL. She also runs a little venue called "Daniel's Den" that is attached to the store where Catholic and Christian singers and bands can come and perform. She was telling me recently that she had owned the "Trustful Surrender" book for about five years, and when she first picked it up and tried to read it, it wasn't making much sense to her, so she put it down. Well, just before this past Christmas, she picked it up again and read the whole thing. She raved about the book to her husband Dave, so much so that when they left town on New Year's weekend for a long car ride, she brought it along to read out loud to him. She read the entire book on their way down to visit his relatives, and they discussed how wonderful and how simple this concept sounded. They discussed how total trust in the Lord and surrender to His will were so crucial to a peaceful life.
On the trip home, Anita said she started to read aloud another book that she had brought with, when her husband said that he just couldn't get into it. He thought she should read the "Trustful Surrender" book again so that they could burn it into their brains. So she read it out loud again, making this the third time she had read it in about one month. Well, it was one week later that her husband wasn't feeling very well, and as she was driving him to the ER, he died. How incredibly good our God is that he began to prepare Anita ahead of time for the surprise death of her husband through this book. As you can guess, she highly recommends it to everyone she meets and still uses it as a source of meditation and reflection. She said that at times she will open it and read a part she has highlighted, or she might just open it and see what it is that God wants to show her.
So if that story isn't enough to get you to order a copy of this book, I don't know what is! Speaking of ordering a copy...Since Dave died, Anita depends solely on the bookstore to sustain her. As you can imagine, it is a tough road, one that requires complete trust in God. In an effort to help her out, you can do one of two things. First, if you live near Plano, you can stop in the store and buy a copy of the book from her. Or, if you don't live near there, you can check out their website where you can click on the link that says "Online Catholic store". At this site, you can find "Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence" for $7. Anita receives a percentage of anything you buy through this link. It looks as if it might take a week or two before you would get the book, but you sure would be helping her out. I have a link to her website on my side bar so anytime you need a Catholic item, consider purchasing it through there. She also asks that you pray for her and the trust that she will need to follow God's will for her life.
God Bless!
