Remember God: A Review

Remember God chronicles a year in the life of author/speaker Annie F. Downs. As with pretty much anyone’s year in the life story, there were some memorable moments (not making the New York Time’s Bestseller’s List and her depressive episode that follows), funny moments (Annie’s baptism in the same waters that the legendary Loch Ness Monster supposedly resides), and mundane moments (her yoga sessions accompanied by Justin Bieber music comes to mind).

Favorite Part of Remember God:

Given my previous lines, I think it’s fair to say my favorite moment in Remember God was Annie’s honest confession of her feelings of disappointment from God when finding out she didn’t make the New York Time’s Bestseller’s List. (I write about the same topic here.) Annie felt like she delivered on her by writing a compelling book, but she felt like God let her down on his end.

And you know what? I think we’ve all been there at least one time in our lives. It’s just that most of us are too afraid to admit it for fear of sounding blasphemous with our church friends. But thankfully, the Bible has numerous accounts of people with similar feelings.

Here’s a favorite few lines of mine from this portion of Remember God:

“I don’t understand healing and how it works. I don’t think there’s a magic word or a certain way to sit or stand that moves God to answer in one way more than another. I just know in this story in my life, God’s kindness looked like an escape hatch opened for me.”

Critique of Remember God:

Even though I found Annie’s words refreshing with their transparency, I felt like this book leaned too much on the experiential without focusing on what we can find out about God in Scripture. I’m not saying it was completely void from talk of the Bible, only that it felt more experiential than Scriptural based.

Whereas there was a book I really enjoyed by Esther Fleece called No More Faking Fine: Ending the Pretending that was a great combo with experiencing God intermingled with raw authentic accounts, compelling storytelling, but also undergirded by the Word of God. I felt like I was inconspicuously taught through Esther Fleece’s words in No More Faking Fine rather than feeling like with Remember God that I don’t even remember why it’s called that title.

From how the book was marketed, I felt like I was going to go through the process of walking alongside Annie in a season of spiritual drought and doubt and then to be reminded through Scripture and maybe even people that God is still good and kind. But I just felt like that wasn’t the case with Remember God. Again, I thought Remember God had a good deal of potential but it could have done better with its execution.

If you like experiential storytelling, then this might be a good book for you.