August 14, 2017
Popular evangelical author Shirer (Fervent: A Woman’s Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer) invites female readers to embrace God in this devotional drawn from diverse, precise biblical readings. Shirer mines a verse for contemporary application each day. She sometimes focuses on a single word while at other times she zooms out to connect the larger biblical story to contemporary believers’ struggles in order to bring seemingly novel problems into historical and religious context. No discernible logic organizes the daily choices of scripture from both testaments, but her relatable style and examples make the work flow smoothly. After the daily two pages of reflection, she includes two more blank pages with an open-ended question and additional verses to jump-start meditation and response. In addressing her words to female Christians, Shirer does not presume any one type of woman as her audience, offering a range of suggestions to apply scripture as a spouse, mother, working woman, church member, or worship leader. Women seeking ways to make the biblical text feel more present in their lives will gladly join Shirer for her inviting 90-day journey towards hearing God’s voice more in everyday life.