Rhythms of Grace: Discovering God’s Tempo for Your Life
by Kerri Weems

The world is a rushing, stressing, pushing, breathless place in this modern age and there have been a surge of books about taking it slow, simplifying life, learning to say ‘no,’ learning to breathe, honoring the Sabbath and more.  Kerri Weems adds her voice to the mix in her book, Rhythms of Grace. 

She starts with an introduction and explanation of some of the ‘heartbeats’ God has set in place to establish the rhythm and tempo of our lives. What is essential?  What do we so often miss that God never intended us to miss?  Shalom—peace and wholeness.  Sabbath—-rest and breathing room.  Grace.

Then she moves on to talk about “pacesetters”: the essentials we build our life around.  She defines and breaks it down to the practical and nitty gritty.  In the area of relationships, she emphasizes how we often make a mess of things.  Sometimes we place relationships with acquaintances or work as a higher priority than those within our family—our husband, our kids, our parents.  She asks us to re-establish the priorities and to learn to let things go.  Weems gives freedom with the assurance that you don’t have to attend every Pampered Chef party or birthday extravaganza.

In addition to pacesetters, she examines ‘peace-stealers,’ the burdens we need to shake off or maybe the way mixed-up priorities, people-pleasing, and focusing too much on achievement wreak havoc on our schedule, our hearts, and our relationships with God and with others. . Ultimately, she leads you through a calendar ‘reboot’ where you define the pacesetters in your life and make the tough choices needed to protect the essentials and leave yourself room to breathe and room for God to work.

I began this book thinking, “here we go again….what could possibly be different about this book than the other 10 books I’ve read on this topic this year?”  Yet, if you’re looking for practical ways to evaluate your life and your schedule while tuning into the mantra of ‘simplicity’ we’re hearing so much about, this is the book for you.  It was so very practical and realistic.

I think she also managed to do what not many other Christian books do for women—she deals with the reality that many women are balancing work and home.  So often the books skirt around the issue, never fulling giving the support and advice many women need, but Kerri Weems takes it head on.  As a resource for women who need to learn how to ‘turn on work’ in the morning and ‘turn off work’ at the end of the day, this could be a breakthrough and so invaluable, encouraging and helpful.  I’ve read several books on this topic and haven’t seen anyone address working moms quite so well.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”