Where the River Runs Review and Giveaway

I have a very short list of books that have changed my life by my reading them.  Books whose stories genuinely challenged me or inspired to be a better person by the stories they tell and the people whose lives they allow me the privilege of seeing into.  I would honestly add Wherever the River Runs to that list.

About the book:

In Wherever the River Runs, Kelly Minter invites us on a journey down a river teeming with piranhas and caimans, as well as machete-wielding mothers, heroic jungle pastors, faith-filled children, and miracles too seldom experienced in our part of the world. Kelly's honest and engaging narrative pulls back the curtain on one of the most captivating places on earth as well as on parts of the gospel we may be able to recite but have never fully believed.
 On this beautiful adventure through the jungles of Brazil and the tangles of the soul, Kelly rediscovers Jesus among a forgotten people living well beyond the corners of her previously defined faith--a people who draw her back to their country, their pain, and their hope in Him, again and again.
 "Kelly Minter writes the way a portrait artist paints." -- Beth Moore, Living Proof Ministries
 "The best thing I can say about Wherever the River Runs is that I closed the last page, bowed my head, and said, 'God, send me too.' Thank you, Kelly, for your courage, leadership, and faithfulness." -- Jen Hatmaker (speaker, blogger, and author of 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess)

Here's the book's trailer:

OBM says:  To say I loved this book is an understatement.  First, there was the way Kelly Minter writes-it's like she's your good friend and she's just telling you the story over coffee.  And yet it's so full of Biblical truths that I found myself underlining parts of the book to go back to, to ruminate on, to someday blog about.  So often what I was reading perfectly fit what was going on in my life, from a discussion in our life group about how meeting someone's need can also mean getting sucked into to their life to just the timing of the reading the book itself as we had a group from church just return from an overseas mission trip.

The book made me laugh and cry.

Such a beautiful story goes with this true, true quote.  It brought me to tears.

It encouraged me and strengthened me.

This quote actually goes with a verse that came up in my quiet time again this morning about praying to God and then waiting expectantly for His response.

 It challenged me and convicted me.

Like Kelly realized, we don't have to live in the Amazon to make a difference.  There are people right outside our own door that need us if we will just take notice and be willing to be used by God to meet the need.

Just like Kelly could never be the same after going to the Amazon, I don't think you could read this book and ever be the same.  We have such a sheltered experience with Christianity here in America.  Such a warped idea of what "hard" is.  Hard is getting all the kids out the door on time on a morning when you forgot there was no more milk for cereal and that the car needs gas. And then you read about what these people go through just to spread the good news.  The pastor who traveled 17 DAYS in the jungle to get to their first annual pastor's conference.  This untrained man of faith who was desperate to become even more equipped spiritually so that he could continue to do the work God had called him to do.  We are so blessed and we don't even know it.  Really, you have to read this book.

And now, here's the good news.  You can win your own copy of this book.  And if you don't you really should go buy it.  But to win it, just enter below.  And please, share the giveaway with your friends.  This is SUCH an awesome book, everyone should know about it!

*Giveaway for U.S. and Canada residents only

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