When Reads the Heart with Linda Wood Rondeau

Hello Friends!
I am very excited to be introducing a new blog series I'm calling, When Reads the Heart. This series will feature uplifting stories of books and stories that have changed and touched lives. My very first guest for When Reads the Heart is award winning author Linda Wood Rondeau.

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HOW TO BE A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT BEING RELIGIOUS by Fritz Rednoir

Just 188 pages. Back in 1971, a quick read. Yet, the book changed my life. The powerful message of what makes Christianity different from any other religion, ended my search for religious practice and helped me learn to walk with God through faith alone.

Though I did not grow up in a traditionally Christian home, my parents believed in God and taught me the importance of nightly prayers. My grandparents came to Christianity in midlife through the influence of my father’s brother, then age seventeen, who became saved at a Billy Graham Crusade and joined the choir.

We only attended church when my grandparents visited. However, at age seven, I attended a camp meeting with my grandmother. I felt the pull to give my heart to Jesus, though I had little understanding of what was involved. I only knew that I loved God and that I wanted to be his servant.

A few years later, my grandparents introduced us to a local church congregation that would soon be our church home. My parents became saved and became regular attendees. Though salvation by faith was taught, my spiritual experience was overshadowed by legalism. If I didn’t do this, and I did that, then I could be considered a good Christian. Sounded simple enough, yet my contrary spirit often rebelled. With a sense of constant spiritual failure, I went to the altar every time an invitation was given.

Perhaps the ultimate sense of spiritual failure resulted from my divorce. I came to the mistaken belief that I could never “do” Christian. I walked away from every tenet I’d been taught. What was the use? I tried to pray, but my prayers went no further than the ceiling. A single mom with three children, my life became anything but a model of how a Christian should live.

Then I read How to Be a Christian Without Being Religious, a commentary on Romans. Finally, something clicked. I was in my mid-twenties, and this book was written for young people, yet, these were the words I needed to hear. Other religions are characterized by man’s attempt to reach God. Christianity is God’s reach to humankind. I began to understand why I couldn’t “do” Christian. God had no intention for us to work our way to him. He was already near, reaching out, showing his love toward me.

The journey back took several more years to fully understand the difference between “doing” and “being” a Christian. I owe the starting point to a simple book. Though I write primarily fiction, I am a writer now because a book changed my life. My prayer is that the words God gives me will help others in kind.

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About the author: 

Award winning author, LINDA WOOD RONDEAU writes to demonstrate our worst past, surrendered to God becomes our best future. A veteran social worker, Linda now resides in Hagerstown, Maryland. Readers may visit her web site at www.lindarondeau.com. Contact the author on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus and Goodreads.