Can I Say That?: How Unsafe Questions Lead Us to the Real God

by Brenna Blain, Preston Sprinkle Narrated by Brenna Blain, Tristan Wright

Overview

Read by the author.

Can God handle our hardest questions, biggest struggles, and secret doubts?

We instinctively assume he cannot. We figure giving voice to those things will bring shame, rejection, and distance from him. But what if our hard questions don't need to function as an off-ramp from Christianity but can lead us closer to his heart? What if he is not afraid of our doubts but instead reveals himself in them?

In Can I Say That?, Brenna Blain brings her fresh voice to those who feel unsafe or unwelcome in the church, acknowledging the incongruity between the church's actions and believers' lived experiences. As a Bible teacher and an advocate for those who have experienced abuse, molestation, and mental health crises, she creates space for readers to be radically honest and ask tough questions-Am I safe here? Why does your presence feel so lonely, God?-while pointing them to biblical, foundational truth.

Leading the way with her own raw vulnerability and authenticity, Brenna shares her journey of wrestling with God and building intimacy with him as a result. Bravely exploring these deep places with Brenna will help you:

• Know in your guts that God accepts you as you are-even as you question, struggle, doubt, and hurt
• Be reassured that he is bigger than anything you face and can handle anything you bring to him
• Experience his love in the most tender and needy parts of your heart
• Engage complex questions about the institution of the church, wrestle with its abuses, and advocate for the Body of Christ to more closely reflect his heart

God sees you and knows you-better than you know yourself. He doesn't need you to change in order for him to love you. He doesn't require you to be free of struggles in order for him to be close to you. He wants you to be your true self with him and be willing to engage with him deeply, so he can wow you with the beauty of his heart and character.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

06/10/2024

Asking God “our hardest, deepest questions” builds a strong faith, according to this impassioned if problematic debut from Blain. After realizing that she was gay as an adolescent, Blain prayed to be straight “every single night for what felt like years.” She contemplated leaving the evangelical faith until a youth group leader encouraged her to work through her “struggles” in the church. Drawing on that experience and her challenges with an eating disorder, depression, and anxiety, Blain recounts how she brought her problems to God via prayer and received help, in the form of spiritual comfort and the kindness of others. Ultimately, Blain became involved in ministry work and married a man. Though she still experiences “the temptation of same-sex attraction,” she writes that she has found peace in the knowledge that “God could have made me straight, but because I struggle, I get to know the power of calling on the Holy Spirit.” While Blain’s candor is admirable, such statements raise the troubling notion that closeness to God is based in suffering, and her answers as to how exactly God provides succor can be vague. The result is an earnest yet unsatisfying account of reckoning with the challenges to one’s faith. (Aug.)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160220611
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	08/13/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged