Prepare to be
inspired by Something Other than God.
Oh, wait, Jennifer Fulwiler already tried that approach, and it didn’t go
at all the way she planned. The
high-powered job, racy sports car, fancy house, decadent parties, and expensive
vacations she thought were essential to be content in life weren’t enough.
Fulwiler relentlessly pursued wealth and the finer things. She met and married someone as ambitious and single-minded as she was when it came to work and worldly measures of success. They were on the way up the corporate ladder to the penthouse suite when the arrival of a small, helpless human being changed everything. It was more than sleep deprivation and the weight of being responsible for the safety and well-being of a newborn that made her question all aspects of her life up to that point. Though she fought against such introspection, she was most distraught over losing her grasp of atheism.
Raised as an atheist who made fun of the many Christians around her trying to talk her into accepting Christ as her personal Savior, she was horrified to find herself being drawn to answers that were beyond her understanding and comfort level—ones certainly above her pay-grade. She became obsessed with reading about Christianity, the Bible, researching as much as she could, and questioning everything along the way.
As you can imagine, there are some very amusing scenarios that factor into Fulwiler’s full-blown existential crisis. Conversion Diary, the blog she began so she could ask the tough questions about Christianity, morality, ethics, and get responses from people who were willing to answer her questions and concerns on both an intellectual level as well as a spiritual one remains tremendously popular. What started as a hobby as she was seeking Truth, opened her up to the Catholic faith and a vocation of sharing her journey with others through her humorous writing, harrowing, often humbling tales of motherhood, and her struggle against her tendencies to be a mostly inert introvert.
There are a number of people I’ve thought of whom I’d love to have read Something Other than God. Fulwiler writes in a compelling way that brings to light the many questions she grappled with and the answers she came to over time. This memoir is an account of how one woman set out to achieve worldly success and how, through the grace of God, she discovered a greater longing, a deeper void, which nothing and no one other than God can fill. Fulwiler slaved over this memoir while raising several young children, dodging dubious scorpions, inadvertently providing exercise entertainment for her neighbors, and attempting creative ways to corral her children enough to maintain her sanity (most of the time), so the least you can do is buy it, read it, and recommend it to all your friends—atheist or otherwise.
For more information about this book or to order your copy, click here. To read more about Jennifer Fulwiler's current life events, funny happenings, and daily struggles, check out her blog Conversion Diary. I received a free copy of this book from Aquinas and More in exchange for an honest review.
