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By Searching: My Journey Through Doubt Into Faith
The inspirational story of Isobel Kuhn whose search for God led to a radically different new life of missionary service in China. 'If you will prove to me that you are, and if you will give me peace, I will give you my whole life.' Isobel Kuhn gave up a life of comfort to serve God among the Lisu people in the mountainous region of South West China. Isobel tells of her journey from doubt to faith, her time at the Moody Bible College, and her preparation for missionary work in China with the China Inland Mission. Her struggle and search for God shows one of the deepest truths there is: whether or not you believe in God already, as long as you want to know him and search for him with your spirit, he will prove himself to you. This is a heart-warming account of how God transformed one woman's life forever, which will encourage and inspire all those who are searching for God and want to know him better.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
53 people are currently reading
1338 people want to read
About the author
Isobel Kuhn
26 books34 followersIn Finnish:
Isobel Kuhn (1901-1957) teki elämäntyönsä pääosin Lisu-heimon parissa Kiinan ja Burman raja-alueilla sekä Thaimaan pohjoisosassa. AREENALLA on persoonallinen kuvaus haastavasta työstä ja Jumalan johdatuksesta vaikeuksien keskellä. Elävästi kirjoitettu ETSIMÄSSÄ kertoo lähetystyötä edeltävästä ajasta, kun kristityn kodin kasvatti sanoutui irti lapsuusajan opetuksista, ryhtyi agnostikoksi ja yritti täyttää elämänsä tanssimisella, teatterilla ja seurustelulla. Sisäisen tyhjyyden kokeminen sai Isobelin kysymään Jumalan olemassaoloa ja etsimään todellista suhdetta Häneen. Jumala osoitti itsensä todeksi ja johti Isobelin "sumuisilta tasangoilta" siunatuille vuoripoluille - hän sai evankelistan kutsumuksen, kävi Moodyn perustaman raamattukoulun, ja lopulta - sille areenalle, missä hän sai olla todistamassa Jumalan tekoja Lisu-kansan parissa.
Isobel Kuhn (1901-1957) teki elämäntyönsä pääosin Lisu-heimon parissa Kiinan ja Burman raja-alueilla sekä Thaimaan pohjoisosassa. AREENALLA on persoonallinen kuvaus haastavasta työstä ja Jumalan johdatuksesta vaikeuksien keskellä. Elävästi kirjoitettu ETSIMÄSSÄ kertoo lähetystyötä edeltävästä ajasta, kun kristityn kodin kasvatti sanoutui irti lapsuusajan opetuksista, ryhtyi agnostikoksi ja yritti täyttää elämänsä tanssimisella, teatterilla ja seurustelulla. Sisäisen tyhjyyden kokeminen sai Isobelin kysymään Jumalan olemassaoloa ja etsimään todellista suhdetta Häneen. Jumala osoitti itsensä todeksi ja johti Isobelin "sumuisilta tasangoilta" siunatuille vuoripoluille - hän sai evankelistan kutsumuksen, kävi Moodyn perustaman raamattukoulun, ja lopulta - sille areenalle, missä hän sai olla todistamassa Jumalan tekoja Lisu-kansan parissa.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
October 16, 2014
Darlene suggested this little book to me last week at Music Camp. I'm adding it to my fall reading list! //
Well...It's October now and I've just finished reading it! I expected this to be a book about missionary life in China, but it turns out it was about the years that led up to Kuhn's missionary days. It's set in the 1920's. We follow Kuhn through her late teens and into her 20's as she finds herself searching. I loved the perspective that she had to offer. This is the second book that I've read about young women in the 1920's and yet I didn't plan that at all. Both women have surprised me...I had no idea that they struggled with "worldliness" or that they found themselves in such horrible situations "back then". I knew the 20's were "roaring", but for some reason, I didn't realize the devastation that these years left behind in the lives of the women who lived through them.
I am fascinated by God's hand in Kuhn's life and I'm going to look around to see if there's anything else that she ever had published.
Let just say this short little book just placed itself right onto my list of all-time favorites!
Well...It's October now and I've just finished reading it! I expected this to be a book about missionary life in China, but it turns out it was about the years that led up to Kuhn's missionary days. It's set in the 1920's. We follow Kuhn through her late teens and into her 20's as she finds herself searching. I loved the perspective that she had to offer. This is the second book that I've read about young women in the 1920's and yet I didn't plan that at all. Both women have surprised me...I had no idea that they struggled with "worldliness" or that they found themselves in such horrible situations "back then". I knew the 20's were "roaring", but for some reason, I didn't realize the devastation that these years left behind in the lives of the women who lived through them.
I am fascinated by God's hand in Kuhn's life and I'm going to look around to see if there's anything else that she ever had published.
Let just say this short little book just placed itself right onto my list of all-time favorites!
January 5, 2010
It is amazing how the Lord intersects various conversations, events, radio programs, thoughts, and books, like puzzle pieces to speak into my life. Over and over again, He shows His intimate care and concern for my heart and its affairs, those things close to me.
This book is for college students, their parents, and anyone who can relate to a struggle to live without submission and a walk of consecration to Christ. Although written in the setting of the 1920's, most of what is found here is of a timeless nature and worth the reader's time and attention.
This book blessed me - thank you again, Isobel.
This book is for college students, their parents, and anyone who can relate to a struggle to live without submission and a walk of consecration to Christ. Although written in the setting of the 1920's, most of what is found here is of a timeless nature and worth the reader's time and attention.
This book blessed me - thank you again, Isobel.
January 27, 2021
To every man there openeth
A way, and ways, and a way.
And the high soul climbs the high way,
And the low soul gropes the low.
And in between on the misty flats
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth
A high way and a low-
And every man decideth the way his soul should go.
-John Okenham
By Searching is about Isobel Kuhn’s journey out of “the misty flats”. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, where Isobel was searching for Truth. But partway through, the book turned into basically a chronicling of her good works. She almost made it seem like doing good works is what a relationship with God is all about, when really the goal is the relationship itself. Good works naturally follow when we are close to God. I think she knows that, and I believe she had that solid foundation in Christ, but because she didn’t discuss it much it could lead someone reading the book to assume our relationship with God is about our performance and how much we can do for Him, which is not the case at all. It was interesting reading about the things Isobel did, but it just wasn’t what I was hoping for.
A way, and ways, and a way.
And the high soul climbs the high way,
And the low soul gropes the low.
And in between on the misty flats
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth
A high way and a low-
And every man decideth the way his soul should go.
-John Okenham
By Searching is about Isobel Kuhn’s journey out of “the misty flats”. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, where Isobel was searching for Truth. But partway through, the book turned into basically a chronicling of her good works. She almost made it seem like doing good works is what a relationship with God is all about, when really the goal is the relationship itself. Good works naturally follow when we are close to God. I think she knows that, and I believe she had that solid foundation in Christ, but because she didn’t discuss it much it could lead someone reading the book to assume our relationship with God is about our performance and how much we can do for Him, which is not the case at all. It was interesting reading about the things Isobel did, but it just wasn’t what I was hoping for.
April 1, 2018
This is a short book about one girl's journey from her parent's faith to doubt and back to faith. Isobel loses her faith when she is faced by a skeptical professor in college who sneeringly asks if anyone in the class actually believes the silly myths in the Bible. The question leads her to eventually abandon her faith, much to the chagrin of her parents. She calls this time living in The Misty Flats. Her analysis of the Misty Flats (as her writing over all) is quite perceptive. She writes:
"It was a popular thing to be on The Misty Flats: you had plenty of company. And one was respected as being modern and intelligent to question the old faiths. Life drifted along so pleasantly—for a while."
For a while indeed. She discovers that The Misty Flats are not as fulfilling as it would first seem:
"Therefore The Misty Flats are attractive to foot, eye, and palate at the beginning. There is no hint that the pretty mist will gradually close in and bring darkness...And above all, there is never a hint that the end of The Flats is the visitation of the Lord and the judgment of sin. Yet all that is the real truth."
And so it is. Isobel eventually begins to feel the pull of God as he unrelentingly pursues her, despite her lack of interest in spiritual things. It takes awhile because she is a little stubborn, but eventually is drawn back to true faith and commitment to God. She writes of God:
"God is not a puppet. Man may not pull strings and expect Him to perform—not even doctrinally correct strings, such as Balaam tried to pull. God is not man’s servant, that a puny atheist may shout a challenge and He is bound to respond. Neither is God a genie, that if man is lucky enough to find the right combination of words, He will suddenly pop out and reveal Himself. God is our Creator, all powerful and dwelling in light unapproachable. He demands reverence. But He is also willing to be Father to such as come to Him by His ordained road, Jesus Christ, and as a Father He tenderly stoops to the immaturity of the babe in Christ."
Mrs. Kuhn has an understated analytical style of writing that reads quite contemporarily despite the fact that this book was written almost 70 years ago. She writes about an acquaintance who did not believe in spanking children and comments:
"Mrs. McMillan was a thinker, but, inbred with theosophy, had fallen in with the idea that it was wrong to spank a child. I have wondered if this was not the reason her children did more as they liked than as she liked."
Here is another example as she describes her initial attempts at being a third-grade teacher. She loves the "little cherubs," but discovers that she loves them too much:
"Needless to say, I had discipline problems! The little cherubs soon found out that their teacher was a softy and she was given daily samples of what unexpectedly naughty things a cherub can think up—even without ever losing his angelic smile!"
Mrs. Kuhn recounts her final surrender to Christ in part this way. Her host, Mrs. Whipple (at a Christian conference) senses that she is at a spiritual turning point. She sends Isobel off to wait for her but then delays coming for awhile. Mrs. Kuhn writes:
"I did not learn until many years later why she delayed in coming. But she ran for prayer help."
She finds her teenage daughter with two of her friends and tells them:
"“Isobel has come to a crisis in her life! Pray her through while I go upstairs and deal with her.” So down on their knees they went in prayer."
All three of these girls who prayed for her in that moment would end up in missionary service. Isobel herself finally surrenders fully to God and begins to pursue him in earnest. She ends up going to Moody Bible Institute for 2.5 years. Her story of how God provided for her there is quite riveting and filled with God very obviously providing for her again and again. It's at Moody that she meets the man who will eventually become her husband, John Kuhn. Both she and John had come to Moody swearing that they would not get involved with the opposite sex because they wanted to concentrate on their studies. Shortly after she arrives, she sees him washing dishes. She writes of that first glance:
"It was one of those shock-encounters when you find yourself already over the threshold and into the other fellow’s soul before there is time to knock for admission."
She actually avoids him for quite a long time, but God has his plan and his plan was to get the two together.
Another good example of her perceptive, direct analytical ability in writing is this description of God's "normal" work in our "normal" lives:
"Life does contain moments of adventure, but these times are interspersed with long periods of plain, unvarnished hard work. The real things of life are attained at these monotonous level periods, so to speak, more than they are at the high peaks of excitement."
Every Moody student had to do some kind of gospel work each semester and she and another girl are assigned to work at a Sunday school in a "liberal" church. The first time they meet the minister he chides them for believing so much in the Bible. They set to work in the Sunday school of this church and pretty soon the little children are coming to faith right under the nose of this minister! The pastor is remarkably honest about his experience with liberalism:
"“You know, girls, I used to believe like you do. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that I am a Bible school graduate myself. But after graduation I went into a seminary and there learned that no one nowadays believes in that old-fashioned stuff. I lost my ‘faith,’ as you call it, at seminary. But somehow our liberalism does not energize people like your teaching seems to, so when I found out how dead the work is here, I asked for a couple of Moody students to be sent us, to stir up interest in the neighborhood. You bring them in, and we’ll mold them into a good community!”
The two girls begin to pray for the minister and, remarkably enough, he eventually comes back to faith! Again the pastor is frank and honest:
"“I am calling on you girls to tell you that the Lord has answered your prayers for me,” he said. “I have come back to Him. It has been a bitter fight, as you doubtless have watched and seen. Pride refused to be crucified for a long time. But week by week it became more evident to me that the Word you girls preached was the power of God unto salvation. Lives were changed through your ministry; my honesty had to admit it. Nobody was changed through mine."
An amazing encounter.
There is much more here, answered prayer after answered prayer, God moving in and through her life in unexpected ways, sadness and death, successful ministry. One of my favorite parts of the book is the friendship she strikes up with a girl named Ruth, who had lost her faith just as she herself had at one time. I will leave the story to your own reading of the book.
She summarizes what she has learned about God in this way:
"Up to this point I have discovered that God is, and that He is mine by the mediatorship of Christ. I have discovered that He can and will teach me His way, or His plan for my life. I have found that He can overcome obstacles and that we do not need to arouse a great hullabaloo to get Him to do so. Hudson Taylor was right in his discovery: “Learn to move man, through God, by prayer alone.” By searching I have discovered that God has strange and sweet ways of manifesting Himself, at sundry times and in divers manners He is still speaking."
The book ends as she is on a steamer leaving Canada for China, where her future husband, John Kuhn awaits.
I can't communicate how much I loved this little book. Read it for yourself and find out.
"It was a popular thing to be on The Misty Flats: you had plenty of company. And one was respected as being modern and intelligent to question the old faiths. Life drifted along so pleasantly—for a while."
For a while indeed. She discovers that The Misty Flats are not as fulfilling as it would first seem:
"Therefore The Misty Flats are attractive to foot, eye, and palate at the beginning. There is no hint that the pretty mist will gradually close in and bring darkness...And above all, there is never a hint that the end of The Flats is the visitation of the Lord and the judgment of sin. Yet all that is the real truth."
And so it is. Isobel eventually begins to feel the pull of God as he unrelentingly pursues her, despite her lack of interest in spiritual things. It takes awhile because she is a little stubborn, but eventually is drawn back to true faith and commitment to God. She writes of God:
"God is not a puppet. Man may not pull strings and expect Him to perform—not even doctrinally correct strings, such as Balaam tried to pull. God is not man’s servant, that a puny atheist may shout a challenge and He is bound to respond. Neither is God a genie, that if man is lucky enough to find the right combination of words, He will suddenly pop out and reveal Himself. God is our Creator, all powerful and dwelling in light unapproachable. He demands reverence. But He is also willing to be Father to such as come to Him by His ordained road, Jesus Christ, and as a Father He tenderly stoops to the immaturity of the babe in Christ."
Mrs. Kuhn has an understated analytical style of writing that reads quite contemporarily despite the fact that this book was written almost 70 years ago. She writes about an acquaintance who did not believe in spanking children and comments:
"Mrs. McMillan was a thinker, but, inbred with theosophy, had fallen in with the idea that it was wrong to spank a child. I have wondered if this was not the reason her children did more as they liked than as she liked."
Here is another example as she describes her initial attempts at being a third-grade teacher. She loves the "little cherubs," but discovers that she loves them too much:
"Needless to say, I had discipline problems! The little cherubs soon found out that their teacher was a softy and she was given daily samples of what unexpectedly naughty things a cherub can think up—even without ever losing his angelic smile!"
Mrs. Kuhn recounts her final surrender to Christ in part this way. Her host, Mrs. Whipple (at a Christian conference) senses that she is at a spiritual turning point. She sends Isobel off to wait for her but then delays coming for awhile. Mrs. Kuhn writes:
"I did not learn until many years later why she delayed in coming. But she ran for prayer help."
She finds her teenage daughter with two of her friends and tells them:
"“Isobel has come to a crisis in her life! Pray her through while I go upstairs and deal with her.” So down on their knees they went in prayer."
All three of these girls who prayed for her in that moment would end up in missionary service. Isobel herself finally surrenders fully to God and begins to pursue him in earnest. She ends up going to Moody Bible Institute for 2.5 years. Her story of how God provided for her there is quite riveting and filled with God very obviously providing for her again and again. It's at Moody that she meets the man who will eventually become her husband, John Kuhn. Both she and John had come to Moody swearing that they would not get involved with the opposite sex because they wanted to concentrate on their studies. Shortly after she arrives, she sees him washing dishes. She writes of that first glance:
"It was one of those shock-encounters when you find yourself already over the threshold and into the other fellow’s soul before there is time to knock for admission."
She actually avoids him for quite a long time, but God has his plan and his plan was to get the two together.
Another good example of her perceptive, direct analytical ability in writing is this description of God's "normal" work in our "normal" lives:
"Life does contain moments of adventure, but these times are interspersed with long periods of plain, unvarnished hard work. The real things of life are attained at these monotonous level periods, so to speak, more than they are at the high peaks of excitement."
Every Moody student had to do some kind of gospel work each semester and she and another girl are assigned to work at a Sunday school in a "liberal" church. The first time they meet the minister he chides them for believing so much in the Bible. They set to work in the Sunday school of this church and pretty soon the little children are coming to faith right under the nose of this minister! The pastor is remarkably honest about his experience with liberalism:
"“You know, girls, I used to believe like you do. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that I am a Bible school graduate myself. But after graduation I went into a seminary and there learned that no one nowadays believes in that old-fashioned stuff. I lost my ‘faith,’ as you call it, at seminary. But somehow our liberalism does not energize people like your teaching seems to, so when I found out how dead the work is here, I asked for a couple of Moody students to be sent us, to stir up interest in the neighborhood. You bring them in, and we’ll mold them into a good community!”
The two girls begin to pray for the minister and, remarkably enough, he eventually comes back to faith! Again the pastor is frank and honest:
"“I am calling on you girls to tell you that the Lord has answered your prayers for me,” he said. “I have come back to Him. It has been a bitter fight, as you doubtless have watched and seen. Pride refused to be crucified for a long time. But week by week it became more evident to me that the Word you girls preached was the power of God unto salvation. Lives were changed through your ministry; my honesty had to admit it. Nobody was changed through mine."
An amazing encounter.
There is much more here, answered prayer after answered prayer, God moving in and through her life in unexpected ways, sadness and death, successful ministry. One of my favorite parts of the book is the friendship she strikes up with a girl named Ruth, who had lost her faith just as she herself had at one time. I will leave the story to your own reading of the book.
She summarizes what she has learned about God in this way:
"Up to this point I have discovered that God is, and that He is mine by the mediatorship of Christ. I have discovered that He can and will teach me His way, or His plan for my life. I have found that He can overcome obstacles and that we do not need to arouse a great hullabaloo to get Him to do so. Hudson Taylor was right in his discovery: “Learn to move man, through God, by prayer alone.” By searching I have discovered that God has strange and sweet ways of manifesting Himself, at sundry times and in divers manners He is still speaking."
The book ends as she is on a steamer leaving Canada for China, where her future husband, John Kuhn awaits.
I can't communicate how much I loved this little book. Read it for yourself and find out.
February 8, 2010
Though this book is sub-titled "My Journey Through Doubt Into Faith" only a small portion of the book deals with Isobel's time as a doubter. What this book chiefly illustrates is Isobel's growing faith--the small tests and experiences that led her from an infant faith to a steady faith. The kind of faith necessary to move her from the comforts of America to the mission field in China. Today's readers might find some of the subjects discussed quaint--the length of hemlines, for instance--but there are some great lessons amidst the nostalgia. Any Christian who reads this book will find themselves examining their own life and faith to see how they measure up. It's a sincere and thought-provoking book. I recommend it.
August 22, 2013
Another classic by Isobel Kuhn. God did miracle after miracle in her life as a missionary in China. Before her time as a missionary though, God had to show young Isobel that He is real and desires to use willing vessels who are fully yielded to Him. He removed all doubt from her mind through numerous manifestations in her life. Read this book and be encouraged to trust God for miracles. He delights in removing all your doubt.
June 2, 2009
I find myself coming back to this book time and again as I reach a different level of maturity -- this, and Kuhn's In the Arena.
February 4, 2024
I loved Isobel’s simple way of explaining her story and the way Jesus transformed her and the people around her. I was encouraged, challenged and moved. 5/5
February 1, 2022
Im literally crying for no reason, it wasn't sad just so good
Okay there's not much to say about this book without saying the whole thing, but I'd say it really was such an eye opener for me. What I really loved was the author and how sincere she was, about her life and her feelings.
Im literally praying I meet a Mrs Whipple in my life thats all Im saying
Okay there's not much to say about this book without saying the whole thing, but I'd say it really was such an eye opener for me. What I really loved was the author and how sincere she was, about her life and her feelings.
Im literally praying I meet a Mrs Whipple in my life thats all Im saying
April 14, 2025
Best book I've read so far this year.
April 4, 2025
This book changed me, for good.
February 27, 2024
A wonderful insight into the life of Isobel Kuhn who decided to abandon the faith she was brought up with when she was young but came to the Lord through a wonderful series of events and eventually served the Lord in China. In this book Isobel describes many tokens of the Lord's faithfulness which are inspirational to live more dependent on Him and less on self. It wasn't a 'can't put it down' book but it was very profitable and not difficult to read.
October 24, 2018
Isobel Kuhn has written an approachable memoir of what her journey from faith to rejection and back to faith looked like. She details how she lost her faith in God. The reader gets to see her growth back into the Lord after the pleasures of this world dissatisfy her for long enough. Her love and passion for the Lord quickly become evident. The author provides an example of what searching for God can do, but she does not prescribe a concrete method to do so.
What spoke to me most from this book was her attention to the Holy Spirit's leading. Throughout the story, she clearly loves God and desires to serve Him. These desires manifest in her attentiveness to God and how He was changing her.
"We have only begun to explore our eternal, unfathomable God."
"...I had unconsciously stepped off the High Way where man walks with his face lifted Godward and the pure piney scents of the Heights call him upward, on to the Misty Flats. The in-between level place of easygoing - nothing very good attempted, yet nothing bad either- where men walk in the mist, telling each other that no one can see these things clearly."
What spoke to me most from this book was her attention to the Holy Spirit's leading. Throughout the story, she clearly loves God and desires to serve Him. These desires manifest in her attentiveness to God and how He was changing her.
"We have only begun to explore our eternal, unfathomable God."
"...I had unconsciously stepped off the High Way where man walks with his face lifted Godward and the pure piney scents of the Heights call him upward, on to the Misty Flats. The in-between level place of easygoing - nothing very good attempted, yet nothing bad either- where men walk in the mist, telling each other that no one can see these things clearly."
November 4, 2016
This book takes place in the 1920's. Isabel Kuhn is a young impressionable college student in British Columbia. A professor mocks her faith, and she decides he is right. There is not God after all.
This is the story of how she found God again, how she was called by him to be a missionary to China, and how he supported her through many hard times.
I really love reading about how others came into a relaionship with God. Kuhn is very honest and humble about her past. This account was written while she was living in the U.S. and battling cancer toward the end of her life.
This is the story of how she found God again, how she was called by him to be a missionary to China, and how he supported her through many hard times.
I really love reading about how others came into a relaionship with God. Kuhn is very honest and humble about her past. This account was written while she was living in the U.S. and battling cancer toward the end of her life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2007
I have read several books about missionaries who have devoted their lives to spreading the message of Jesus Christ in China. This book deals with Isobel Kuhn "pre-China" years. I found it very interesting and I personally loved it. It might not appeal to everyone but I gleaned a lot from it. It is set in the early 1920's. Some things have changed, but other things, such as the power of God in transforming lives, have not.
June 28, 2016
J.B. Phillips paraphrases Hebrews 6:1,3, "Let us not lay over and over again the foundation truths... no, if God allows, let us go on." And the four words, "Let us go on," are what Isobel Miller declared from a ship departing for the mission field to the friends and family she left behind. In 1928, Isobel traveled to China to serve among the Lisu people. The hallmark of her life was searching out the knowledge of an infinite God. This book is the story of the first 26 years of that life.
April 5, 2019
“God, if there be a God, if You will prove to that You are, and if You will give me peace, I will give You my whole life. I’ll do anything You ask me to do, go where You send me, obey You all my days.”
An amazing record of Isobel Kuhn's journey to faith! One of the most relatable missionary biographies I have ever read. She is ready to admit her downfalls and the Lord blesses her for it!
An amazing record of Isobel Kuhn's journey to faith! One of the most relatable missionary biographies I have ever read. She is ready to admit her downfalls and the Lord blesses her for it!
July 13, 2017
I loved the gentle conversational style of this book. It made me feel like I was sitting at my Grandma's feet hearing her testimony. This book had some really good and really unusual points. Definitely a keeper! I'd highly recommend it to anyone.
January 14, 2018
I cannot begin to tell you how this book has influenced my life. Isobel Kuhn's honest and real testimony of God's faithfulness in her journey toward Him set my heart aflame for Him anew. I strongly recommend this book!
May 7, 2009
Mrs. Kuhn's simple and friendly style carries some massive truths. Her journey from a Christian home to university agnosticism to faith in Christ to the mission field is very encouraging.
March 3, 2011
Great book! Isobel Kuhn is an astounding woman of faith. encouraging to see how God works through prayer
June 1, 2011
One of my favorite missionary biographies!
February 6, 2013
I'm going to recommend this one to my daughters...who are growing up quickly. Inspiring for all, but maybe particularly for young women?
August 21, 2019
I believe this is the fifth time I have read this book, and right now it is more applicable and encouraging than ever before!!!
January 8, 2016
What a wonderful book!!!! I could not put it down!
January 7, 2022
First book I completed in 2022.
This book is such a wonderful encouragement to young Christian everywhere, particularly to women. It is an autobiography which narrates the author’s journey from doubter to missionary. Her story really spelled out the importance of personal faith in Christ, and really trusting in the power of prayer. I was awed by her experience of answered prayer - it’s definitely something I want in my life. However, coupled with this was her emphasis on sanctification and really repenting from sins, worldliness and old habits. Some of her convictions I do not agree with (e.g. the theatre or dancing); however, the message of removing distractions to truly focus on drawing near to God is compelling. Distractions define our lives in this modern era, and it drains us spiritually.
Would recommend & this has made me keen to read more Christian autobiographies.
This book is such a wonderful encouragement to young Christian everywhere, particularly to women. It is an autobiography which narrates the author’s journey from doubter to missionary. Her story really spelled out the importance of personal faith in Christ, and really trusting in the power of prayer. I was awed by her experience of answered prayer - it’s definitely something I want in my life. However, coupled with this was her emphasis on sanctification and really repenting from sins, worldliness and old habits. Some of her convictions I do not agree with (e.g. the theatre or dancing); however, the message of removing distractions to truly focus on drawing near to God is compelling. Distractions define our lives in this modern era, and it drains us spiritually.
Would recommend & this has made me keen to read more Christian autobiographies.
July 29, 2024
I received this book as a gift when I graduated high school. I don't remember if it was that year or the following when I read the book, but I still remember the content. The author's life story hit me squarely between the eyes because I saw my own life and heart reflected in hers. She became a true Christian in college and when she gave her life to Christ there were no places in her heart or in her life that were off-limits to her Lord and Savior. Because of that commitment, she made changes that set her apart from the world. I loved her descriptions of that pulling-away from wordly activities as extinguishing tapers. And she was honest about the struggles and the anger at wanting to be "like everyone else". I would recommend this book to any adult, but I especially recommend it to girls ages 18-21. This just might change your view on life.
September 20, 2020
2.5 stars. There were some good lessons and good nuggets in here. Overall, I wasn't enthralled, and I found many of her views (on, say, gender, corporal punishment, dancing) to be very antiquated, or even legalistic.
There were many stories of God's provision for Isobel, which was good.
Some of my favorite nuggets:
"Yes, my Master is thorough. He wounds, but He binds up, and His balm of Gilead heals without stinging; it cools, refreshes, and restores in every part. He gives the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, and brings beauty out of our ashes."
"The only way to be holy is daily to hand over to the Holy Spirit what Dr. Tozer calls 'the hyphenated sins of the human spirit...self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-admiration, self-love, and a host of others like them...'"
There were many stories of God's provision for Isobel, which was good.
Some of my favorite nuggets:
"Yes, my Master is thorough. He wounds, but He binds up, and His balm of Gilead heals without stinging; it cools, refreshes, and restores in every part. He gives the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, and brings beauty out of our ashes."
"The only way to be holy is daily to hand over to the Holy Spirit what Dr. Tozer calls 'the hyphenated sins of the human spirit...self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-admiration, self-love, and a host of others like them...'"
August 30, 2021
I expected a book about a missionary in China and/or a love story if meeting her husband but this was not what Isobel Kuhn wrote. She wrote, sincerely and honestly, about the work God did in and through her in her young adult life. It was this work in her life that led her to her years of missionary work and her husband. It had a lot of great nuggets of truth mingled with encouraging testimony of God’s provision and correction in her life. I liked seeing a picture of the Christian culture of her time too. It made me a little sad for the shallow approach of our own Christian culture and our lack of fervor for changed hearts rather than just raised hands. It was recommended by and acquaintance and I am glad I took the recommendation.
September 24, 2018
The title of this is a little misleading. Kuhn spends the first 25 pages or so on resolving her doubt and the remaining 90% of the book on her life of faith. I guess I expected a little more thorough explanation of her doubt to faith experience. As a person, Kuhn comes off seeming pretty uptight. It's like in her pursuit of relationship with God she pushed aside many innocent pleasures that God purposed for enjoyment. We likely wouldn't have been friends.
That said, it wasn't uninteresting. Kuhn records many examples of God's incredible provision for her as she prepared for missionary work in China. I can't say I'd recommend it, but I also wasn't sorry I read it.
That said, it wasn't uninteresting. Kuhn records many examples of God's incredible provision for her as she prepared for missionary work in China. I can't say I'd recommend it, but I also wasn't sorry I read it.
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