Still, by Jenny L. Donelly, 2020, Revell (Baker Publishing Group)

I received a copy of this book from Revell in exchange for writing my review.  

The author and her husband are involved in several motivational ministries to Christian leaders and are based in Oregon.

This is a very personal devotional book for women.  I think it would appeal most to busy young moms, although it was encouraging to me too, as an older woman.

Jenny starts by telling about some of her own life.  She is the mother of five children, the youngest still a toddler and the oldest a teenager.  As if this doesn’t make her busy enough, she is also heavily involved in Christian ministry and her own successful business.  And she still finds time to meditate, write, exercize on her spin bike, socialize, travel, and drive her kids around!  Wonderwoman for sure!

She also tells about her growing up years in which she experienced sadness and loneliness starting with the divorce of her parents when she was still a young child.  She struggled her way emotionally into adulthood, trying hard to be a good person and blundering through the pitfalls of bad relationships and drinking.  Finally she totally committed herself to Jesus.

The book is about finding rest in the midst of the storm.  The cover illustrates this with the word ‘Still’ in the centre of a swirl.  Her basic premise is that the kind of spiritual rest or stillness that is found in Jesus is like the calm in the eye of the storm.

Part 2 of the book, entitled Seven Ways to Rest, is Jenny’s recommendations for purposefully getting into this spiritual rest in Jesus.  Way 7 even includes how to do that while training on a spin bike!  A psychological, spiritual and physical multitask!

In a very short Part 3 she finally explains our spiritual position of resting in Jesus, and then in an appendix she gives the reader a few exercises in spiritual resting.

Jenny makes the book interactive by directly speaking to readers and including blank lines where she asks readers to write their own thoughts and feelings as they meditate on her questions.  This is part of what makes this such a personal devotional book.

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