Still Waiting by Ann Swindell

I don't really know what I was expecting with Still Waiting. Most of you know that I've been waiting for stuff for a long time. Seems I have a problem with being okay waiting. So I think I thought, maybe this chick can give me some insight.

I got it and I'll be honest I had a chip on my shoulder, I mean I've been waiting for over 20 years for something that more than likely isn't going to be a part of my story after all. I may have had an old lady moment where I thought about how I have t-shirts older than her (I don't, but I did think it). Fortunately, I didn't let that chip stop me because she's got some stuff I needed to hear!

Ann Swindell shares about her journey with trichotillomania, which is the uncontrollable pulling of hair. She particularly pulls her eyelashes and eyebrow hairs and has done so since she was 11. She weaves her story with a fictionalized account of the Bleeding Woman from scripture.

The fictionalized story is very well done. The additions are based on historical facts and that story alone is worth the cost of admission. But then she adds in her own struggles and opens them up enough that you can see the commonality of all of our struggles. You may not have trichotillomania, but you have your own burdens and can walk alongside not only Ann but the Bleeding Woman in her telling of the story.

The really good part is at the end. Because Ann reveals that she's not been healed. I mean you get there and you're thinking the whole time, that it's going to happen, but it hasn't. What she shares in that reality is what she has received instead of physical healing. And is often true of gospel stories, Jesus is most concerned with our eternal healing and our relationship with him. And that relationship doesn't start far off in the distance, it's in the here and now! We don't have to wait for "life eternal" to spend every day with God, we get to do that right now!

There is hope in this story. And it's not a pat "one day" kind of hope, it's a real gritty, I know that what I have is good even in the midst of the difficult kind of hope. So, if you need a little encouragement in the midst of your waiting, get a copy.

A copy of this book was given to me by Tyndale House Publishers for the purpose of review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I'm never required to give a positive review, but I'm thankful when I can.

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