Natalie Brand - Prone to Wander: Grace for the Lukewarm and Apathetic

One of the most perceptive and influential books I have ever read, Prone to Wander touches on the innermost conflicts of the Christian life. But Natalie Brand does more. She comes along side us, pointing out that we are not alone in the battle and that there is a way of escape giving us hope and renewed confidence in the power of the cross.

Faith Cook

Author of several books, including Troubled Journey and Sound of Trumpets

Natalies gospel-filled warnings mix clarity with compassion. I hope many will be kept from shipwreck by the earthy wisdom of this book.

Joel Virgo

Senior Pastor, Emmanuel Church, Brighton

Our sinful hearts incline us to turn away from the Lord, and we find ourselves spiritually in the wastelands. This little book is a winsome word to believers who struggle or stray, to return to Christ the friend of sinners. Help is given in diagnosing our spiritual need, pointing us to Christ, and taking practical steps for a more constant walk with the Lord. Warmly commended!

Bill James

Principal of London Seminary

The drum-beat of Prone to Wander is: God pursues His children. Natalie makes it clear that backsliding is the result of sin, but lifts God up as compassionate to sinners. She uses helpful biblical and contemporary illustrations to explain why we slide and gives gospel comfort and practical tips to end the descent. Are you running from God like Jonah? Are you weighed down with sorrow and suffering like Job? Are you, like David, desperate because of your own sin? Pick up this book and find help for your soul.

Keri Folmar

Pastors wife, United Christian Church of Dubai, and author of The Good Portion: Scripture

Natalie writes as a friend talking to a friend, balancing personal honesty and sympathy with the wisdom and challenge of Biblical truth. This book did my soul good. As one who is prone to wander it engaged my mind, warmed my heart, and redirected my steps towards the God I love.

Jane McNabb

Conference speaker and Chair of London Womens Convention

Pastors and counselors who routinely seek to restore wandering Christians would do well to keep copies of this book as handy as a box of Kleenex. Christians seeking to restore a wandering brother or sister should get and give this book to their friend as quickly as theyd perform the Heimlich on a choking diner. And the rest of us? Well, I cant speak for you, but, now that I think about it, Prone to Wander is a pretty good description of me

C. L. Chase

Author of Grace-Focused Optimism

We are all prone to wander, but what does that mean for the life of faith? In this wonderful work, Natalie Brand carefully explores the Christians tendency toward unbelief and spiritual distraction. Drawing from scripture, she offers a perspective on how we should respond to such a tendency, and she does it in a way that is biblical, practical, and sensitive to actual human experience.

Scott Redd

President and Associate Professor of Old Testament, Washington, D.C. campus of Reformed Theological Seminary

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011.

Copyright Natalie Brand 2018

paperback ISBN 978-1-5271-0208-8
epub ISBN 978-1-5271-0247-7
mobi ISBN 978-1-5271-0248-4

First published in 2018
by
Christian Focus Publications Ltd,
Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire,
IV20 1TW, Scotland
www.christianfocus.com

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover design by Paul Lewis

eBook production
by Oxford eBooks Ltd.
www.oxford-ebooks.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the U.K. such licences are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London, EC1 8TS. www.cla.co.uk

: Prone to Wander

Part One: Why We Stray

Part Two: Gospel Comfort

Part Three: Practical Self-Care

For my Bundle Hope in a dark place.

Special thanks to the Rev. Dr D. Eryl Davies (Dr D) for offering pastoral and theological guidance. Your comments are always so full of wisdom. Also to the gorgeous Sarah Allen for her hard work on the manuscript and encouragement I wish I had your command of the English language.

Thanks to Angela Brand for her proofreading, and also to my dear friends Rhona Black and Lorna Bradley for helpfully sharing their thoughts. My gratitude and love also to Ken and Beryl Gaines for so willingly babysitting at the last minute. And many thanks to the truly talented Jenny Bright for her beautiful and unique illustrations, and to Rosanna Burton at Christian Focus for faithfully working this project through to completion.

I am indebted to Thomas most of all: for your endless support, personal sacrifices and trawling through my manuscript multiple times. I love that Nicholas is right; you cant put a cigarette paper between us theologically. Thank you also to Georgiana, Beatrice and Arabella who put up with Mummy going off to the hotel to write, and welcomed me back with excited screams and kisses.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Natalie Brand for tackling an urgent pastoral issue that threatens not only the well-being of Gods people individually but the progress of His gospel at a challenging time our propensity to wander away from the Lord Jesus, our good and kind shepherd. How welcome is the restoration of grace into our thinking and into our vocabulary. Less welcome is the mistaken loss of spiritual responsibility that has sometimes accompanied it. As Natalie helpfully reminds us, grace doesnt mean that sin doesnt matter. Far from it.

With delightful directness and a ruthless willingness to be both deeply personal and painfully honest, Natalie stops us in our tracks through a series of short chapters. Employing the profiles of some of the Bibles biggest names, she charts the reasons for our willingness to wander, offers us helpful remedies when we find ourselves far from the Lord we love and finally makes some practical suggestions that will help us curb our wander-lust. Unsurprisingly, we discover that all we need is the gospel. But if the Lord Jesus heart is to give himself to us, our responsibility is to grab him and never let go.

Richard Underwood

Retired Pastoral Ministries Director of FIEC

April 2018

I cant pray! My tongue feels spiritually tied and guilt churns in my stomach as I glimpse my dust-ridden Bible, untouched for weeks. I find no strength in my arm to lift it; I have no desire, yet feel some longing and mourning for the things of God. I am in a land as dry as Ezekiels valley; the parched earth is as cracked as my lips. I know I should turn around and trudge back up to the cool mountain springs. But I am robbed of muscle and passion. I am just a wandering pile of dry, lifeless bones.

Yet I am hunted hunted by the grace that saved me.

As Christians, many of us experience times when we struggle in our faith. Times when we get distracted, like dumb sheep, and stray away from the safety of the fold and our faithful Shepherd. Some of us wander for months or even years, backsliding into unbelief and serious sin. Others of us fall into spiritual apathy where our passion for Christ cools and we cant pray or pick up our Bibles.