When I first started reading Amazed by Grace, Sheri Dew’s latest book, I had to stop and do a little happy dance. You see, Sheri Dew came to speak to the women of Aurora last year and much of the wisdom she shared with us is contained in this little book. And this book is way better than the meager notes I made during her address.
Grace has always been a challenging topic for me. I know it’s the most basic tenet of our Christian faith, but it’s always been such an abstract concept for me. Let’s face it; the idea of grace seems pretty contrary to how life works here on earth. In the beginning of the book, as she is introducing this topic, she asked a friend who is a Relief Society President (the Mormon Church’s women’s organization) what she wished the women who she served knew about grace. And her answer was, “We don’t think we know enough about grace to even know what to ask.” That’s kind of how I felt before I heard Sister Dew speak and before I read this book.
And then she shared a study tip she learned where each time she saw the word “grace” in her scripture study she would substitute the word “power” instead. And then added Elder David Bednar’s suggestion that he substituted the phrase “enabling power.” And when we think of grace that way—as the “enabling power” of Jesus Christ—it makes so much more sense to me. It is what allows to do the hard things in life and to be far more than we are on our own. I’ve already read and re-read this book and now I get to read it with my highlighter in hand and mark and note all my favorite passages.
Like other books Sheri Dew has written, Amazed by Grace is written with straightforward and clear language. Sister Dew takes topics that seem so complex on the surface and explains them in a way that makes them easily understood. I love her real-world examples and the fact that she readily admit she doesn’t have all the answers—but she is happy to share her search for those answers with us, allowing us to learn not only what she has learned but how to search for ourselves.
This is a short book, just shy of 70 pages, but so packed with inspiration that it will be a book to be read and re-read whenever you need a reminder of the beauty and power of the wonderful gift of grace. The book is beautifully laid out with key points and thoughts set apart from the text in a more prominent but not distracting typeface. In addition, beautifully designed text graphics complement the text at frequent intervals.
Whether you are new to the understanding of grace or you just need a refresher, Amazed by Grace is the clearest explanation of grace and how it can make a difference for each one of us that I have read.
You can get your copy of Amazed by Grace from Deseret Book in either hardcover or eBook format here.
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