If you’re looking for books to strengthen your faith, you won’t want to miss this new release from Lauren Gaskill

Why You Need Books to Strengthen Your Faith

You may wonder why anyone would need to read more than the Bible to strengthen their faith. I’ll tell you why. Although the Bible has myriad examples of ordinary people who walked with God through trials, some times, those giants of faith don’t seem relatable to us today. We don’t have to contend with putting stakes through the head of escaping generals, or gleaning in fields in order to survive (and catch a husband).

Yes, we can learn how to have faith from Jael and Ruth, but sometimes we crave stories of women who contend with the things we contend with: social media, working outside of the home, overwhelming anxiety, depression, and keeping faith in a faithless world.

Lauren Gaskill provides the encouragement and examples of bold faith that today’s Christian woman needs.

Into The Deep

Lauren Gaskill writes about faith as the antidote to anxiety. When worries threaten to pull us into deep places, she shows us how taking a leap of faith into a deeper relationship with Jesus can be just the life ring we need.

Lauren learned as a young adult that she couldn’t rely on the faith of her parents to get her through life’s challenges. When anxiety and pain threatened to overwhelm her, she discovered her own faith. Through her experiences, she wants to encourage other people who struggle.

When trials come our way (and they WILL come), Lauren offers six important things to remember—the most important reminder? God is not punishing us (I heard several variations of this one when Pedro had cancer). We live in a sinful world and the consequences of sin affect all of us. God wants us to understand that he’ll walk with us through the pain and the consequences of sin.

If you’re looking for a life ring, Lauren offers practical tips on deepening your relationship with God, prayers that guide us closer to him, and resources for further study. Her honest sharing of how Jesus both rescued her from the waves and helped her learn to swim in the deep with faith will encourage and uplift you.

About the Author

When Lauren Gaskill started feeling pain in her shoulders while she was in high school, she attributed
it to her swim team workouts. In college, as her health issues continued to escalate, she began to feel
lost in a sea of anxiety, depression and unexplained chronic pain that was ripping apart her faith. Every
week she would hear sermons about a God who delivers his people from their problems, but words
only left her more frustrated and confused.

Gaskill admits she somehow missed the explanation that following Jesus doesn’t guarantee sunny skies
and smooth sailing. In fact, the waters of life are often tumultuous, crashing over us. Sometimes we can
feel we’re drowning in a sea of confusion, division, frustration, complacency, or disillusionment. We
need more than a shallow faith to survive these deep waters. In her new book, Into the Deep: Diving
Into a Life of Courageous Faith (Abingdon Press), Gaskill invites readers to dive headfirst into a life of
courageous faith.

Why Water?

There is something beautiful and mysterious about water. It’s elemental to our existence, but depending on the environment, it can also be a threat. When I was little and didn’t know how to swim, the water terrified me. But once I mastered the strokes, deep waters became a place of freedom and adventure. These experiences on the swim team are very similar to the experiences I’ve lived through in my faith journey, and that’s why I chose the water illustration. Fear can hold us back from learning how to swim, but it can also hinder us from stepping out courageously in faith. There are so many parallels and biblical illustrations (I mean right there in Genesis 1:2), I knew this was the lens I had to write the book through. ~Lauren Gaskill