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BookMark Review Club

Calm My Anxious Heart

Contentment isn't a popular subject. Fed daily by television, we may want a better body, a bigger house and a spouse with a perfectly chiseled face and a body like Samson.

In briefly scanning the table of contents of Linda Dillow's book, Calm My Anxious Heart, it's easy to see that the subject matter in this book isn't what the world seeks. Chapter titles like "Content with Circumstances," "Content in Relationships," and "Never Enough" deal with lifestyle decisions that would never fly on America's television talk shows.

Dillow begins by saying that contentment is a state of the heart, not a state of affairs. Quoting from the diary of a woman named Ella, the author lays the foundation for the rest of the book. Here is Ella's prescription for contentment:

• Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
  
• Never compare your lot with another's.
  
• Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
  
• Never dwell on tomorrow—remember that [tomorrow] is God's, not ours.

One of Dillow's chapters is titled "Worry Is Like a Rocking Chair." She says, "The word worry is derived from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'to strangle or choke.' The stranglehold of worry keeps a woman from enjoying a life of contentment and peace. Anxiety is…the habit of crossing bridges before we reach them."

Dillow says that freedom from worry is a process. She cites Peter as an encouragement in our journey to contentment. He began as a worrier, yet in his first epistle, he tells others to hurl their anxieties on the Lord Jesus. Life as an apostle must have taught him the habit of trusting the Lord with his everyday life.

All of our reviewers loved this book. It's not often we come across a book that each reviewer would recommend to others, but this is definitely one of those.

Calm My Anxious Heart includes 12 chapters, a personal letter from Dillow, and stories from Dillow's missionary life nestled between each chapter. Most importantly, a 12-week Bible study is included in the back. Some of our reviewers plan to do the study on their own in the next few months. This book is definitely worth a second read and deeper study.

The Book: Calm My Anxious Heart
Author: Linda Dillow
Publisher: NavPress

The Reviewers
Pamela Fortner, coordinator; Alicia Black, Mary Fairrington, Kristi Hartman, Phawnda Moore, Anne Rounsville, Anayansi Schlipp, Saundra Steward — from Sunset Christian Center, Rocklin, California; Greg Fairrington, senior pastor.