Thank you so much to Penguin Books South Africa/LAPA Uitgewers for a review copy of Seeking God! Besides knowing Ps. Trevor Hudson, I am looking at ways to grow my faith and get skills for reading Scripture better or improving my relationship with God. So it’s safe to say that when this arrived in the mail, I was so so excited!! 🤩
Published: September 2022
Pages: 224
Genre: Christian Literature
Ps. Trevor Hudson takes the reader on a journey towards a deeper fascination with Jesus. He uses references to some of the Spiritual Exercises from St. Ignatius as well as his personal journey and friendship with Dallas Willard to weave a beautiful compelling work for the person who wants a different life. Ps. Trevor’s gentle way comes through these pages as well as his deep devotion to Jesus and to his friendship with Jesus. He also doesn’t shy away from letting the reader know that he doesn’t have it all together either yet, that we are all on a journey. And that’s pretty incredible.
After telling one of his stories, the ending line is “It doesn’t have to be this way” and this for me was a stand-out line. It has so many applications and implications. If our lives are broken, it doesn’t have to be this way. If we feel unfulfilled, it doesn’t have to be this way. If our relationship with Jesus isn’t where it needs to be, it doesn’t need to be this way! There is something more. There is something that can be done. There is a person who can change our lives significantly – the person of Jesus.
The one chapter that stood out to me the most was the chapter on discerning our deepest desires. It was incredible because when we hear the word desire, we automatically think of it with a negative connotation. What Ps. Trevor does so amazingly in this chapter, is explain that desire is not bad. It can be corrupted but it is not bad and actually, God created us as beings with the ability to desire. It is built into us. It’s our job to figure out our desires and what we then do with them. To quote from the book, “Hence, God sometimes leaves us with the responsibility to discern our truest desires and decide which way to go.” This was a great chapter in my opinion.
Then, the next biggest thing that I took away from this book was one of the Spiritual Exercises that encourages the reader to read through one of the gospel accounts and then imagine yourself in it. You can be one of the characters that are already in the story, or you could be yourself, but the idea is that you live the story. In this way, you can try to imagine what Jesus was thinking and doing and why he did what he did in the story. The intention of this exercise is to try to get to know Jesus much better. It’s called imaginative prayer. This was my favourite takeaway from this whole read (amongst many other things!).
Here’s the imaginative prayer exercise straight out of the book:
“Take a few moments to experiment with imaginative prayer. Choose your favourite Gospel story. Read through it a few times to reacquaint yourself with the details. Put the Bible down and ask God for the grace to come to know, love, and follow Christ more deeply. Step into the scene as a participant rather than as a spectator. See the persons involved, hear the words spoken, watch the actions performed. Pay attention to where you find yourself in the story.
What do you see? What do you hear? How do you feel? What goes through your mind? Above all, interact with Christ as he meets you in this story, share whatever is on your heart with him, and listen to what he may be saying to you. Afterwards, make a few notes of how it went for you.”
This really is an incredibly helpful tool for anyone seeking Jesus, but also for someone who already follows Jesus and wants to deepen that friendship and relationship! ♥️ This is the kind of book that’s not just light reading. It would be best to read slowly and with intentionality. The most benefit will be derived from doing each exercise with thoughtfulness around it which is definitely my intention.
If you would like to add it to your Goodreads TBR, please click here.
Until next time 😊
Chevonn
All The Books and I 
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