North Laurel Home & School: Book Review: Grumble Hallelujah

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Grumble Hallelujah: Learning to Love Life Even When It Lets You Down
by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira
Release: 09/01/2011
ISBN: 978-1414338019
Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Retail: $14.99

If you had told Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira while she was crying on the kitchen floor that she could find a way to praise God in this situation, she wouldn?t have believed you. In fact, she might have thrown something at you. Looking around at a life that was disappointingly different from what she?d dreamed, she couldn?t imagine honestly singing out a hallelujah. But then it occurred to her that, well, maybe she could manage to grumble one.

Have you been there? During life?s lowest moments, it is so tempting to blame ourselves, our circumstances, or God. But what would happen if we turned to God and managed to praise him instead, in whatever way we could? Might he show up and help us find the things in our lives that he made to be loved? Grumble Hallelujah offers humor, candid stories, and solid scriptural backing that will help you see clearly just how your life is meant to be lived?and loved.

If you are looking for a real inside of the mind book that doesn?t sugar coat what an author feels (how she blames God, cries over ?spilt-milk?, takes a rather pessimistic view a large part of the time) then this book won?t disappoint. When I requested this book, I was looking for ways to be able to see the good in the bad. I was hoping for scriptures that lead back to God in all situations. Although this book does offer that, it first lets you in on how the author was feeling at the time when she was down and out. I was quite surprised, honestly.

The book is broken into 5 parts (Grumble Hallelujah, Wriggle Hallelujah, Prefer Your Own Hallelujah, Learn a New Hallelujah, Flash Your Hallelujah) and deals with things such as letting go of life that 'was supposed to be?, letting go of fear and control, letting go of expectations, letting go of jealousy and comparisons, letting go of the never-ending quest for ?more?, letting go of judgment, letting go of your own life, and other ?letting-gos?. The book begins with, in my opinion, a temper tantrum of a spoiled girl. The author is throwing a fit on her kitchen floor because her life (which sounds pretty good to me!) isn?t ?perfect? or what she envisioned it would be by that point in her life. From there, she shares the insights that she has gained from ?being down?.

There are quite a few good points in this book. Many times I found myself nodding in agreement (or sometimes reevaluating what I had thought a passage in the Bible to mean, based on my own understanding) but many more I found myself thinking, ?wow, she?s spoiled?. Someone asked if I would recommend this book?and I wasn?t sure. I?m still not sure as I write this far. There are great bits of advice in the book but personally, I?m not sure I can relate to much that the author goes through. I think that if the reader can get past what I?ve had a difficult time getting past (but I must have because I read the entire book and I did get good out of it), then I think it would be a good book.

Here are only a few of the positive things that I gleaned from the book:

• ?God is a seeker and a restorer. That means he can take our losses, our hurts, and our missteps and restore them to blessings. He?s good like that.?
• ?The thing about God is that he?s here with us. In every place we are, at every place we need to go.?
• ??believing God and having faith doesn?t mean you do dumb things. It doesn?t mean you close your eyes while riding a bike. It doesn?t mean you court danger for dangers sake. It doesn?t mean you shut down your senses- common and otherwise.?
• ?I think that he keeps us in those waiting or stuck places until we learn to look for him and notice him and what he?s done for us.?
• (On critics) ?There?s another part I don?t love, though: the meanness. And even on (make that, especially on!) Christian sites, people get mean. Merciless. In responses to things I?ve written, I?ve been slammed by all sorts of ugly, awful, stinking, dirty types of discourse. I?ve been told I?m a bad mom, a bad wife, a bad Christian. A bad writer, a bad speller (which is true), and a wrong thinker. I?ve been told I?m selfish and stupid?While many of us writers have tough skins?it still hurts.? (her point with this bit was in regards to her response, which was often just as mean. See Romans 12:19)
• ?But God is our Almighty Father- not our Almighty Butler. And his visions for our success and his definitions of prosperity and his idea of what giving us fish (not snakes) even is are not our ideas. They are better.?
• ?We can?t be selective about which promises we believe. If we believe one, we must believe them all. If we believe he won?t send world-destroying floods, we need to believe our plans will succeed in him?If we believe God sent his Son and is preparing an everlasting Kingdom, we need to believe that when we ask, we?ll receive; that when we seek, we?ll find; and that when we knock, the door will swing open, that our God will welcome us in off the stoop.?

There is more good to be found in this book, so yes, I think I would recommend it. We may not agree with all that the author writes (or how she writes it to get her point across) but if we pay attention then we can see God at work. Someone will benefit from this book even more than I have.

I received this Advanced Galley Book from Tyndale House Publishers via Net Galley.

Source: http://www.nlfamily.net/2011/07/book-review-grumble-hallelujah.html

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