Book Review: True Grit

On my recent trip to Turkey, I took this book for my down-time reading pleasure. True Grit: Women Taking on the World, for God's Sake by Deborah Meroff was a great read while spending time abroad. The book weaves together so many different stories, essentially just testimonies, of ordinary women that God is using around the globe. Each woman has a different call, a different focus, and yet each story is touching and inspiring for readers to ponder their God-given purpose.

The women Meroff writes about share a common theme in the midst of their diversity: obedience, courage, and surrender to fulfilling their tiny role in the big world.

Chapters include stories about:

• an American woman working with deaf Jews in Israel
• a woman from Singapore working in Nepal
• a European couple serving on a sea-ship sharing the gospel in ports around the globe
• an American family serving in Tajikistan
• a Vietnamese refugee working in Canada and then back home in Vietnam
• a German couple living among the poor in Egypt
• a Canadian woman working with Jews in India
• a Canadian nurse adopting a handicapped child from Lebanon
• a Brazilian woman serving Turks in Germany & Turkey

I heard about this book from my friend Melanie who said there's a guy online who is offering to send a free copy to 1 million readers in 2009. Click here and scroll to the bottom of his webpage to read his offer and send him an email... one week later, you'll have the book in hand at no cost to you! What a deal, huh?!

Bonus material in the book includes sections on "Vital Statistics" for women's related issues like child brides, trafficking, widows, female infanticide, honor killings, domestic violence, etc. I found these sections (although randomly placed throughout the book) very interesting and helpful to understanding key issues for women around the world today.