A friend of mine from Maine Fellowship of Christian Writers recently dropped an interesting devotional, Putting My Hand in God’s … Living the Raphah Way by Yvonne Blake. I  call it “interesting” because it isn’t a devotional in the true sense of the word. It’s more of a self-reflection with Yvonne taking readers along her journey and challenging readers to self-reflect as well.

As she aptly explains in the Introduction, Raphah means to let go, to surrender, to be weak (in order to be healed).

Letting go , surrendering, and becoming weak to emphasize the strength of God is hard. Through autobiographical thoughts, Yvonne was able to trace the steps in the transformation — Honoring Your Creator, Saying “Yes, Lord”, Simply Trusting, Humbling Myself, Abiding in Him, Letting My {Your} Light Shine, Worshiping the King.

Although liberally sprinkled with appropriate Scripture {King James Version} for the lesson, the message is more personal, taken the perspective of a long-time {almost literally from birth} daughter of the King. She proves through her words, being a professed Christian is no guarantee of living as a Christian. It takes constant vigilance. It takes continual learning. It means recognizing the rocky times as lessons. It takes constant focus. It means keeping your eyes on the prize and not the journey.

There are no “ah ha” moments in her work. There are many moments when her self-evaluation illuminated a latent truth. This is the book’s biggest strength.

At the end of each reflection, Yvonne offers a “Pause To Ponder”. She turns her story in your story by asking for your views on the thought just presented. There is white space between each of the three questions for you to pen a note for yourself.

Yvonne summed up the book with her testimony. The last sentence says it all. “I still stumble, but I’m learning to live the raphah way.” I would add my own “Pause To Ponder”. “Are you?”

I recommend the book and give it five stars. It is available as a paperback or on Kindle.

Putting My Hand in God’s … Living the Raphah Way, Yvonne Blake, author; Paperback, 134 page; independently published (Aug. 11, 2020); English; ISBN-10: 107762444; ISBN-13: 978-1077624443; available at amazon.com/Putting-My-Hand-Gods-Living/dp/1077624441/; $6.50.

Kindle: File Size: 550 KB; Publication Date: Aug. 14, 2020; English; ASIN: B08FYXWXR7; Word Wise: Enabled; Screen Reader: Supported; Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled; Text-to-Speech: Not enabled; X-Ray: Not Enabled; Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1077624441; Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited; Lending: Enabled; available at amazon.com/Putting-My-Hand-Gods-Living-ebook/dp/B08FYXWXR7/; $3.50.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The meaning of life is to give your gift away. — David Viscott