Behold by Sarah J. Callen

 

 

I like to start my day with a devotional, like many other Christians. Behold: 40 Days of Seeing and Savoring God by Sarah J. Callen turned out to be a helpful devotional to me in several ways.

In Behold, Callen encourages readers through four prompts as a part of each reading: Pause, Be, Enjoy, and Wonder. At the start of the book, she shares how hard it was for her to slow down and spend time reading the Bible as a workaholic. I was raised by a workaholic and I struggle with many of the issues she raised. These few phrases really stuck with me from her book, "A few years ago, I prayed, “God, I want to be a human being instead of a human doing.” And He has been so faithful to respond to that prayer over the years." Since reading this, I have been reminding myself that I am a  human being. Callen also says not to be too legalistic in the forty day aspect of this devotional but rather to go at your own pace. I like that she gives the reader that encouragement even though we don't exactly need the author's permission. 

I also like that each Behold reading encourages the reader to study the Bible passage and spend time with God each day rather than just a verse and a few quick lines to meditate on each day. To compare it to life, I thought it was the difference between a fast breakfast bar and a full breakfast. However, I would encourage readers to either get the hard copy of the book or to be sure you have a notebook or journal handy to go along with this book and Bible in order to get the most out of the book. I would recommend it to anyone wanting a daily devotional. It is independently published but it is also well edited and I think it would appeal to Christians from various denominations.

I received an electronic copy of Behold through JustRead Tours Review Program. All opinions within this review are my own.