Atlas Girl by Emily T. Wierenga - REVIEWED

About the Book:
Emily Wierenga left home at age eighteen with no intention of ever returning. 

Broken down by organized religion, a childhood battle with anorexia, and her parents' rigidity, she set out to find God somewhere else--anywhere else. Her travels took her across three continents in buses, cars, and planes, across mountains and over deep blue seas.

What she hadn't realized was that her faith was waiting for her the whole time--in the place she least expected it.

Poignant and passionate, Atlas Girl is a deeply personal story of the yearning we all share to be truly known, entirely forgiven, and utterly loved.

My Thoughts:

“The next six months would be the hardest of my life.  I would learn Arabic; I would experience the murder of a team member.  I would teach English in a Palestinian camp to children who knew no English; I would travel by myself for miles across the Jordan an avoid the stares of men and meet with Muslim women once a week to share the gospel, and I would give my testimony in Arabic.”      (p. 104)

These are but a few statements that reflect a narrow time span in Emily Wierenga’s life experience.  This lady has experienced far more than most in the brief 34 years she has inhabited this earth.  God has blessed her with a gift for language and expression that causes the reader’s heart to ache with the poignancy of her words.  She survives anorexia, but faces fierce battles with this disorder many times.  She faces cancer ravaging her mother’s brain, missions trips, marriage, loss, birth….so many, many things, all recorded in the context of a faith that waxes and wanes and ultimately triumphs.  And the truths she learns and shares along the way will steal your breath away!

“No matter how many flights I take, no matter how many countries I visit, if God’s will and heart are not my ultimate destination than I am to be more pitied than anyone.” (p. 238)

“God’s love for us often looks like suffering.  It often looks like the silhouette of the cross, when in fact it is the sun beyond that silhouette, rising on the third day.” (p. 253)

“When he is full, he smiles, and I realize, a smile is the overflow of needing nothing else.  The spilling of crumbs from lips to world.”  ( p. 267)

This is the most beautiful, encouraging, sad, joyous journey through the eyes of one of God’s children I believe I’ve ever read.

About the Author:

Emily T. Wierenga is an award-winning journalist, columnist, artist, author, and blogger at www.emilywierenga.com. Her work has appeared in many publications, includingProdigal Magazine, A Deeper Story, Christianity Today, Dayspring's (in)courage, and Focus on the Family. She speaks regularly about her journey with anorexia. She lives in Alberta, Canada, with her husband, Trenton, and their two sons.