29 March, 2024

The Power of Uncertainty: Find This Book and Read It! (Part 1)

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by | 8 October, 2012 | 0 comments

By Gayla Congdon

 

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day
Mark Batterson
Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006

The book I have read that has impacted me the most in the past few years was In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson.

The title comes from a story found in 2 Samuel 23:20, 21. On a snowy day during the reign of King David, Benaiah chased a lion down a pit and killed it. The story is timely because we are living in days when fear is consuming us and, I believe, keeping us from doing kingdom work.

The book resonated with me in many ways because fear is an issue Amor Ministries has dealt with since it started in 1980. In the past several years, fear has returned to accompany us as we”ve sought to minister. Fear can be paralyzing, and it”s exactly what the enemy wants.

Batterson talks about how faith does not bring certainty. As I”m writing this review, I”m sitting in a hut in South Africa where I have brought 87 women, ages 12 to 70, from five countries. I”m sure each one of them would confess there has been a reasonable amount of uncertainty on this trip. And yet, being a part of the reconciliation process is worth the times when one”s faith does not bring certainty.

My favorite part of the book is its challenge for us to quit asking God to remove us from difficult situations, and instead ask God what he wants us to learn from these trials. I like uncertainty, and truly believe the difficult situations in my life have made me more like Christ.

One of Batterson”s closing remarks compelled me to reflect on my life and my personal and professional body of work. He said a lion chaser”s greatest fear is not that something bad will happen to him or that he will lack material resources. No, a lion chaser”s greatest fear is regret. I can honestly say if I died today, I would have no regrets, as I have never let fear keep me from doing kingdom work!

 

Gayla Congdon is chief spiritual officer of Amor Ministries, San Diego, California. Her new book, Disrupted: Cultivating a Mission-Focused Life, is due to release from Standard Publishing in February 2013. 

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