Lost And Found

I first picked up Lost And Found: Losing Religion, Finding Grace by Kendra Fletcher because I had to read this crazy story: a homeschooling mom of 8 who has three different children have three different life-threatening crises back to back. It sounded unbelievable! However, this book really isn't about her children and their medical crises. It's really about legalism and how this Pharisaical attitude has crept into many of our churches and Christian circles. The back cover says:

"The "right" homeschooling philosophy. The right brand of theology. The "right" meal-planning, home-managing, keep-it-all-together parenting. Kendra Fletcher, homeschooling mom of eight, had it all "right," until it all fell apart. In the course of eighteen months, Kendra found her baby in a coma, ran over her five-year-old, and nearly lost her eight-year-old to a septic ruptured appendix. Lost and Found is the story of how God used those events to transform her family s self-righteous religion into freedom in Christ. Fletcher's debut book is the gripping true story of how God used suffering to save her family from empty religion. As wave after wave of crisis hit, the Fletchers discovered that getting religion "right" wasn't a good substitute for a living relationship with a loving God. Through their suffering, they learned about misplaced identities and false hope, and they threw themselves wholly into the arms of Jesus where they found the grace they needed. Fletcher, a well-known writer and conference speaker in Christian homeschooling circles, addresses the quiet legalism that so easily infiltrates Christian communities and exposes the dangers of focusing our hopes on the "right" ways of worship, work, and family life. More than a memoir, Lost and Found invites all of us to give up the things that hold us in bondage and find our value, worth, significance, hope, and identity in Christ alone."

When I downloaded Lost And Found to my Kindle, I figured I'd sit down and read the first chapter just to get an idea of how the book starts. Two hours later, I was scrolling through the last page! I just couldn't stop reading. I could relate so much to Kendra's life. I used to homeschool and I tend to ascribe to the patriarchal mindset and conservative dress standards, although I went through a period of time where I was MUCH more strict with all of the above. I could see myself in so much of her story and I used to be extremely legalistic about certain issues. I still can tend toward legalism, but I recognize it in myself much more now than I used to. I loved Kendra's honest writing style and willingness to open up her life and expose areas she's embarrassed about and share incidents that she now cringes at. I love authors who don't pretend to be perfect and really bring you into their life, no holds barred. This is a must-read for every Christian woman today. I've seen obvious signs of legalism in certain popular Christian circles, and even in my own church, and it can be difficult to root them out. However, this book really opened my eyes and helped me see certain sins and biases in my own heart and life as well. Highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book from Litfuse in order to provide an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.