Bessey - Out of sorts: making peace with an evolving faith

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There are so many things that I love about this book, and I know you will too. I love Sarah Bessey and, true to form, in Out of Sorts she is transparent, vulnerable, thought provoking, and gracious as she wrestles with things we have all wrestled with, or one day will. Her message of hope, love, and grace is stunning and my heart resonates deeply with the thought that we need each other, and we need to learn from each stream, because our stories dont happen alone; our roots are all tangled together.

C HRISTINE C AINE, FOUNDER OF THE A21 CAMPAIGN AND P ROPEL W OMEN

Honest, sober, and encouragingly relatable.

F RANK V IOLA, COAUTHOR OF T HE D AY I M ET J ESUS

This is the truth: Sarah is one of my very favorite writers. The quality of her writing is so inspiring and beautiful and moving to me. And her complicated dance with church and all its tentacles is one that is familiar to so many of us. I love this book.

S HAUNA N IEQUIST, AUTHOR OF B READ & W INE

Sarah Bessey writes with the fire of a preacher and the soul of a mother, critical thought without cynicism. Her deepest wounds have come from the church and so has her deepest healing. This book is for all of us who understand, we wonderers who long for Jesus and distrust easy answers. Here Sarah is a brave and faithful guide as we all learn to live the questions.

M ICHA B OYETT, AUTHOR OF F OUND

Touching a raw nerve in contemporary evangelical experience, Sarah Bessey reflects on the inevitable reality of walking the path of faith without having it all worked outand at times having none of it worked out. Thoughtful, compelling, moving, and real, Bessey models a faith many are seeking but afraid to voice, a faith released of the obligation to be certain. This is the kind of book youll want to read and tell friends about.

P ETER E NNS, AUTHOR OF T HE B IBLE T ELLS M E S O

Out of Sorts reads like a love letter to Jesus and to all those desperate to see His true face. Through her indomitable heart, brilliant mind, and vivid writing, Bessey sets an extravagant, cozy table in the middle of the spiritual desert. She invites her Jesus and all restless wanderers to the table and through her we fall in love again. Bessey hosts the most holy of reunions. She is the writer, the Christian, the woman we need at this very moment and her latest offering will comfort, awaken, challenge, and heal. Out of Sorts already lives on the shelf I reserve for my all-time favorites.

G LENNON D OYLE M ELTON, N EW Y ORK T IMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF C ARRY O N W ARRIOR AND FOUNDER OF M OMASTERY AND T OGETHER R ISING

Listen, Wanderer, Wonderer, Church Girl, Question-Asker, Status-Quo Upender, those of you in the in-between somewhere, those of you in the wilderness, those of you safely home: this book is a balm. If you have ever trusted me, now is the time. What you will find in these pages is nothing short of a gift. There are plenty of us out here reimagining, rethinking, reevaluating, restarting. You arent alone. Sit down, pour yourself a cuppa tea (Im channeling Sarah here), and receive this permission to leave behind the stale trappings of religion in order to find Jesus again. He is as good as we ever hoped. Thank you, my dearest Sarah Bessey, for helping us find our way back home.

J EN H ATMAKER, AUTHOR OF F OR THE L OVE, 7, AND I NTERRUPTED

With refreshing honesty and engaging passion, Sarah Bessey reminds us that cheap certitude is a poor substitute for genuine faith. Sarah shares her stories and discoveries as she searched for an authentic Christian faitha search that led her away from the church and then back home again. T.S. Eliot said We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. This is what Sarah Bessey has done and Im so glad she has shared her beautiful story with us.

B RIAN Z AHND, PASTOR AND AUTHOR OF F AREWELL TO M ARS

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Copyright 2015 by Sarah Bessey

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture marked MSG taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions there of in any form whatsoever. For information address Howard Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Howard Books trade paperback edition November 2015

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Interior design by Renato Stanisic

Cover Design by Connie Gabbert

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bessey, Sarah.

Out of sorts: making peace with an evolving faith / Sarah Bessey.

pagescm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1.Bessey, Sarah.2.Christian biography.3.Christian lifeMiscellanea.4.ChristianityMiscellanea.I.Title.

BR1725.B47A32015

230dc23

2015030250

ISBN 978-1-4767-1758-6

ISBN 978-1-4767-1759-3 (ebook)

F OR OUR TINIES : A NNE S TYLES , J OSEPH A RTHUR, E VELYNN J OAN, AND M ARGARET L OVE

because someday, my darlings, you may feel a bit out of sorts too (we all do sometimes): Its okay.

Dont be afraid.

I love you.

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Every so often, a writer comes along that hits this perfect bulls-eye of communication. Hand to the heavens, Sarah Bessey is one of them. She manages to be poetic but still accessible, prophetic but still gentle, crazy smart but still approachable, strong but still gracious. I have no idea how she does it, but at the end of Out of Sorts , I basically wanted to curl up into every single paragraph and stay there forever.

Ill tell you what: this is the Jesus I know and love, the one Sarah describes. This is the church I crave, the one she found. Like Sarah, I have also taken a meandering spiritual voyage, and with the trustworthiness of a good leader and the kindness of a good friend, she laid out a clear path through the melee. Like a cold glass of water on a scorching day, she gave permission to struggle, to doubt, to leave, to come back. What a gift! I would have given anything to have this book in my hands when I was in my own wilderness. Even years later, it still set me free from leftover confusion Ive been carrying around like a burden I didnt feel allowed to drop. I read every word of this book and laid it all down once and for all.