Author:  Margaret Becker
Title:  "Coming Up for Air"
Publisher:  NavPress

There comes a time in life where a certain phrase, tune, or story just hits you right in the gut, up to the heart and forces you to respond to it. It first knocks the wind out of you and then subtly begins to gnaw at you until you do something about it. "Coming Up for Air" is a catalog of such moments and its author, recording artist, songwriter and speaker Margaret Becker, is the appropriate vessel to deliver each blow.

Almost 10 years ago, Margaret decided to get off the carousel of constant commitments for a one-month retreat. No plans, no schedules, no anything that remotely resembled work. She simply unplugged from life in order to get replugged to God and His purpose for her. In the quiet of the peace and calm of silence, she began to dream, to create, to write out her goals in life while she still had years to fulfill them. She emerged from this season a changed person, allowing herself to experience each moment and slow down to focus on what was central to God's heart relationships, community, and giving. "Coming Up for Air" chronicles this transformation while allowing all of us the opportunity to allow that same transformation in our own lives.

It would be easy to write this type of book off as a touchy-feely women's book about getting to know yourself and how to live the good life. Fortunately, there's not a single moment throughout its few hundred pages that is emotionally contrived or manipulative. Instead, Margaret speaks plainly about herself, her life and her relationship with God and with others. Her honesty is raw and surprising at times, hardly allowing herself any pedestal to elevate to.

God spoke to me while reading. Through her words and experiences, He reminded me that He is present, right now, not just in the past or in the future. Its as if He is pleading with all of us to live in His presence and not miss His heart that is displayed all around each of us. Thankfully, God captured Margaret's writer heart, and we are all now beneficiaries of that gift He gave her.

Take some time, read this book … and hold on.

 © 2006 Infuze Magazine.  All rights reserved.  Used with permission.