Bethany Partner Review: The Gift of the Unexpected by Jillian Benfield

 

I'm not reviewing as many books these days, I'm enjoying many, many books a year, but with the Hoopla app through the Library, I can access many brand new books as soon as they are released, and I'm loving audiobooks in this season of my life.  So it takes something special to get me to choose to launch a book officially.  This book made the cut (even though it's on Hoopla even before my review copy arrived!).  

I've started following Jillian Benfield on social media as her perspective on raising a child who has a disability is encouraging, gospel-focused, and refreshing.  I've read a few of her free e-books, but haven't followed her blog, or gotten to know much about her until I read this book.  But one thing I'd noticed is that even those who are not believers have liked and shared her posts, as her voice is relevant and needed, so I wondered about how the book would be geared.  

Jillian attended college and has a degree and experience as a journalist/TV anchor.  Her husband was in the military for 8 years, and she's learned the life of being a military wife with moves to many states in not a lot of time.  

I knew from reading her memes that she has faith, so I was intrigued to read her book about her Unexpected Gift.  The subtitle is Discovering Who You Were Meant To Be When Live Goes Off  Plan.  

Book's Intended Audience: Anyone who is struggling with an unexpected gift, taking life off plan.  Her story is related to having a child with down's syndrome, but she does a great job making it relatable to any personal struggle that stops you in your tracks and causes you pain.  

Strengths of the Book: 

• The author's examples of her own pain, struggle, and lament/grief are relatable to anyone in their own struggle, even if it's a different struggle.  
• The book is patterned, something many busy readers will appreciate, after the introduction, each chapter is divided into Jillian's Story, The Gift (in that story), and the Gift of You (with journaling questions.)  The Book is divided into three parts:  The Gift of Returning to Yourself, The Gift of Unexpected Transformation, and The Gift of Unexpected Purpose. 
• The lens of seeing the unexpected gift being something wonderful is led by learning your identity from God and learning to see your life as a life God planned to make you who you are.  
• Jillian's discovery of the history of how people with Down's Syndrome have treated those with a disability, and recognizing that when she opened her eyes and saw that she had lacked awareness of the world around her, and discovered that she was not seeing life through the eyes of others and that she needs to look at how this gives her purpose and desire to use her experiences and knowledge to change the world around her.  
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Wonders: 

• How readers will accept and apply her push that your experience has brought you a new language and experience, and will you use that language to help the other ones who are unseen as you have felt in your struggle, to help others with your growth and experience.  
• Is there too much of a blend of modern concepts/terms that you could read the book and miss that the author's real intention is for the reader to be transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit in your life hearing Him remind you are chosen by God, loved, created for your life?
• Is the author intending that we deconstruct our faith as she has?
• Are some of her repeated and intentional phrases packed with more meaning than I might know since they blend more into what seems to be beyond what the Bible teaches about living life. 
• I wish she had chosen to talk about the Holy Spirit, not just transformation and God.  
• I wish she had shared more of her seminary story/experience, as she quotes well-known theologians as well as psychology people throughout the book.     

Overall impression:

I give this book 3 stars.  I am bothered by some of the phrases, concepts, and terms used as faith experiences but also in our world having a secular definition outside of a biblical worldview.  

Thankful to partner with Bethany Publisher and read a physical book, as well as to Hoopla the library app where I was able to listen as well when pondering my review.