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This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World
Tain Gregory was present in his third grade classroom on the morning of December 14, 2012, the date of the Sandy Hook shootings.
As part of the healing process for the community after the tragedy Tain was asked “What’s the most important thing in the world to you?”
His mother expected an answer about a video game or Pokemon trading card. Tain thinks for a moment then answers with one word. “God.”
Until that moment, Tain’s mother had no idea how close to the surface Tain’s faith existed for him.
This is a fascinating look at the journey of two souls, both Tain’s and his mother’s, that began with Tain enrolling in Sunday School and led to a strong life of faith for both of them.
In This Child of Faith, Sophfronia and Tain share stories, experience and ideas to help parents get to the heart of the question: How do you help a child have faith—real faith that they own—in the challenging world we live in today?
As part of the healing process for the community after the tragedy Tain was asked “What’s the most important thing in the world to you?”
His mother expected an answer about a video game or Pokemon trading card. Tain thinks for a moment then answers with one word. “God.”
Until that moment, Tain’s mother had no idea how close to the surface Tain’s faith existed for him.
This is a fascinating look at the journey of two souls, both Tain’s and his mother’s, that began with Tain enrolling in Sunday School and led to a strong life of faith for both of them.
In This Child of Faith, Sophfronia and Tain share stories, experience and ideas to help parents get to the heart of the question: How do you help a child have faith—real faith that they own—in the challenging world we live in today?
196 pages, Paperback
Published December 14, 2017
8 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Sophfronia Scott
14 books378 followersSophfronia Scott is a novelist, essayist, and leading contemplative thinker whose work has received a 2020 Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts. Her book The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton won the 2021 Thomas Merton “Louie” Award from the International Thomas Merton Society. She holds a BA in English from Harvard and an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Sophfronia began her career as an award-winning magazine journalist for Time, where she co-authored the groundbreaking cover story “Twentysomething,” the first study identifying the demographic group known as Generation X, and People. When her first novel, All I Need to Get By, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2004 Sophfronia was nominated for best new author at the African American Literary Awards and hailed by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as “potentially one of the best writers of her generation.”
Her latest book is Wild, Beautiful, and Free, a historical novel set during the Civil War. Sophfronia’s other books include Unforgivable Love, Love’s Long Line, Doing Business By the Book, and This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World, co-written with her son Tain. Her essays, short stories, and articles have appeared in numerous publications including Yankee Magazine, The Christian Century, North American Review, NewYorkTimes.com, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Her essays “Hope On Any Given Day,” “The Legs On Which I Move,” and “Why I Didn’t Go to the Firehouse” are listed among the Notables in the Best American Essays series.
Sophfronia has taught at Regis University’s Mile High MFA and Bay Path University’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She is currently the director of Alma College’s MFA in Creative Writing, a low-residency graduate program based in Alma, Michigan. Sophfronia lives in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Sophfronia began her career as an award-winning magazine journalist for Time, where she co-authored the groundbreaking cover story “Twentysomething,” the first study identifying the demographic group known as Generation X, and People. When her first novel, All I Need to Get By, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2004 Sophfronia was nominated for best new author at the African American Literary Awards and hailed by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as “potentially one of the best writers of her generation.”
Her latest book is Wild, Beautiful, and Free, a historical novel set during the Civil War. Sophfronia’s other books include Unforgivable Love, Love’s Long Line, Doing Business By the Book, and This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World, co-written with her son Tain. Her essays, short stories, and articles have appeared in numerous publications including Yankee Magazine, The Christian Century, North American Review, NewYorkTimes.com, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Her essays “Hope On Any Given Day,” “The Legs On Which I Move,” and “Why I Didn’t Go to the Firehouse” are listed among the Notables in the Best American Essays series.
Sophfronia has taught at Regis University’s Mile High MFA and Bay Path University’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She is currently the director of Alma College’s MFA in Creative Writing, a low-residency graduate program based in Alma, Michigan. Sophfronia lives in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
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February 1, 2018
Sophfronia Scott came to Christian faith as a child, having read a religious tract and praying the prayer at the end. Her family wasn't regular churchgoers, though her father listened to eight-track tapes of Reverend C. L. Franklin and movies like The Ten Commandments, King of Kings and the Greatest Story Ever Told. When she was in college, at Harvard University, she reacted to a Christian friend's harsh judgmentalism towards athiests and this increased her wariness of church. She had thought about getting baptized, even spoke to Rev. Peter Gomes about it, but Gomes's requirement for baptism was being committed to a Christian community, and she wasn't about to join a church.
She came to church and a more significant faith as an adult. Her young son, Tain Gregory, heard Where is Your Hairbrush? on satellite radio in the car. This led to the discovery of other Veggie Tale Silly Songs and the Veggie Tale cartoon. As Tain learned about the Bible from vegetables, he began to show an interest in faith, God and spiritual things. One day he said he wanted to go to church. So Sophfronia, her husband Darryl and Tain decided to start attending church together. They settled on Trinity Episcopal Church, the church that Tain's preschool had been in.
I knew before reading This Child of Faith, that Sophfronia had a son who was a third grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School when a gunman entered the school. The events of that day entered the national consciousness. It was the fourth largest, single shooter massacre in U.S. history. I figured, given the significance and severity of that event, this would be a difficult read, knowing that any Sandy Hook story would be intense.
And it was. Tain lost a close friend (a godbrother) and other people he cared about. Sophfronia struggled with the best way to help Tain process the trauma. But despite the way that day impacted their family and community, this memoir is not really the story of the Sandy Hook shooting. Rather, this is a story of a mother and son, each growing in their Christian faith and the resource their faith was to them.
Sophfronia tells us of Tain's faith and childlike wonder, the way he saw God everywhere, his gregarious and generous spirit, and the things this called up in her. She also describes what she did to help nurture Tain in the faith, her lesson planning for children's worship (which she was conscripted to occasionally lead), and the day she and Tain were baptized together. She talks about how their pastor walked with them through difficult stuff, such as the death of a friend's husband and Sophfronia's sister. The school shooting happens near the end of the book. It is Sophfronia and Tain's faith journey that would give each the resources to process that painful event. Their family worshipped together at Trinity church, they were fed by sacraments, oriented by liturgy and the liturgical calendar, and bolstered by devotional practice and prayer, surrounded by the community of faith.
Sophfronia lists Tain as her co-author. She wrote the book but includes occasional memories and reflections from Tain. With an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College, this is a well-written memoir. And despite its graphic and heart-rending conclusion, this signals hope. Their faith carries them through trauma and loss. I highly recommend this. Five stars!-★★★★★
Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from Paraclete Press in exchange for my honest review.
She came to church and a more significant faith as an adult. Her young son, Tain Gregory, heard Where is Your Hairbrush? on satellite radio in the car. This led to the discovery of other Veggie Tale Silly Songs and the Veggie Tale cartoon. As Tain learned about the Bible from vegetables, he began to show an interest in faith, God and spiritual things. One day he said he wanted to go to church. So Sophfronia, her husband Darryl and Tain decided to start attending church together. They settled on Trinity Episcopal Church, the church that Tain's preschool had been in.
I knew before reading This Child of Faith, that Sophfronia had a son who was a third grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School when a gunman entered the school. The events of that day entered the national consciousness. It was the fourth largest, single shooter massacre in U.S. history. I figured, given the significance and severity of that event, this would be a difficult read, knowing that any Sandy Hook story would be intense.
And it was. Tain lost a close friend (a godbrother) and other people he cared about. Sophfronia struggled with the best way to help Tain process the trauma. But despite the way that day impacted their family and community, this memoir is not really the story of the Sandy Hook shooting. Rather, this is a story of a mother and son, each growing in their Christian faith and the resource their faith was to them.
Sophfronia tells us of Tain's faith and childlike wonder, the way he saw God everywhere, his gregarious and generous spirit, and the things this called up in her. She also describes what she did to help nurture Tain in the faith, her lesson planning for children's worship (which she was conscripted to occasionally lead), and the day she and Tain were baptized together. She talks about how their pastor walked with them through difficult stuff, such as the death of a friend's husband and Sophfronia's sister. The school shooting happens near the end of the book. It is Sophfronia and Tain's faith journey that would give each the resources to process that painful event. Their family worshipped together at Trinity church, they were fed by sacraments, oriented by liturgy and the liturgical calendar, and bolstered by devotional practice and prayer, surrounded by the community of faith.
Sophfronia lists Tain as her co-author. She wrote the book but includes occasional memories and reflections from Tain. With an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College, this is a well-written memoir. And despite its graphic and heart-rending conclusion, this signals hope. Their faith carries them through trauma and loss. I highly recommend this. Five stars!-★★★★★
Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from Paraclete Press in exchange for my honest review.
December 12, 2017
This is a collaborative memoir that I wrote with my son Tain. I hope the sharing of our story will provide some inspiration and guidance as your family embarks on its own faith journey. Blessings and best wishes to you.
February 4, 2018
Sophfronia Scott begins this book by introducing readers to her nine-year-old son Tain, while also revealing the heart and purpose of this book. She writes about being suprised by the depths of her son’s faith when, asked by a documentary film director to name the most important thing in his life, Tain answers, “God.” The book is a collaboration—of Sophfronia’s revelations about exploring her faith while guiding her son on his personal exploration and sections titled “Tain’s Take,” which are his perspectives on the book’s subjects and events.
Central to the book is a catastrophic event, the Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre, which wounded the heart of the nation but which Sophfronia’s family experienced as a personal tragedy. Early in the book, Sophfronia writes about the paradox of light and darkness, a theme she repeats in her description of the events of December 14, 2012: in his third-grade classroom during the shootings, Tain was physically unharmed, while in a nearby classroom, his dear friend and Sophfronia’s godson Ben was killed. She writes about other difficult, painful experiences in her life, including a miscarriage scare, her inability to conceive another child, pre-publication issues with her latest novel, through all of which her faith abides.
Sophfronia’s parenting style personifies the premise that “to love is to listen and pay attention.” This isn’t a book about coercing children into regular church attendance but is a guide to helping a child find his/her own way into faith, as a practice as well as a concept, which may also solidify one’s personal faith and beliefs.
Central to the book is a catastrophic event, the Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre, which wounded the heart of the nation but which Sophfronia’s family experienced as a personal tragedy. Early in the book, Sophfronia writes about the paradox of light and darkness, a theme she repeats in her description of the events of December 14, 2012: in his third-grade classroom during the shootings, Tain was physically unharmed, while in a nearby classroom, his dear friend and Sophfronia’s godson Ben was killed. She writes about other difficult, painful experiences in her life, including a miscarriage scare, her inability to conceive another child, pre-publication issues with her latest novel, through all of which her faith abides.
Sophfronia’s parenting style personifies the premise that “to love is to listen and pay attention.” This isn’t a book about coercing children into regular church attendance but is a guide to helping a child find his/her own way into faith, as a practice as well as a concept, which may also solidify one’s personal faith and beliefs.
May 31, 2022
I understood this book to be about a family involved with the Stormy Hook school shooting. It is, but the author goes back to her childhood, and her days of parenting, to provide the faith foundation exhibited in her family during the school tragedy. Overall, it's a book about walking the steps of faith with your child, being a place where he can ask questions, and making faith his own. I enjoyed the book.
December 18, 2017
I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy of this perfect book. As with anything Scott writes, it is always novel and revolutionary. Here we have a memoir that is both written by Scott and her son, and explores faith in all senses. After putting this book down, I felt better about the world--and far more connected to it.
March 12, 2018
Didn't finish, too meandering for me and more of a memoir than I thought it'd be.
January 3, 2018
After great pain, where is God? Sophronia Scott wrestles with this question and others in This Child of Faith. Here she tells the story of her spiritual journey and that of her nine-year-old son--the ups and downs, the certainties and uncertainties. How can we hold onto faith through disappointment? Through grief? Scott does not whitewash the process; do not expect platitudes in this book. Finding and keeping faith is difficult. But through conversational, elegant language, Sophronia reassures us that life, despite its pain, is good, and that faith is worth fighting for. Highly, highly recommended.
December 21, 2017
As a child’s awareness of the world grows, they come to ponder their own mortality, inevitably questioning the existence of a higher power. For young Tain Gregory, co-author of THIS CHILD OF FAITH: RAISING A SPIRITUAL CHILD IN A SECULAR WORLD, the process of embracing faith seemed to come about quite naturally. Perhaps this prepared him in some way for the spate of deaths that would rock his world—culminating in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
This book is as much about Tain’s spiritual journey as it is that of his mother, author Sophfronia Scott. Determined not to force a specific religious practice on her son—something that had dissuaded her from joining a religious community in the past—Scott chose to step back and observe how her son approached the process, inspired by his example to overcome her own apprehension.
The book ends in the present, with Tain on the cusp of his teenage years. With fewer kids attending church, it’s a time when being religious isn’t exactly seen as “cool.” We’re left with a sense that, as a spiritual child in a secular world, Tain will continue to be tested, but that his faith will see him through, as it has in the past.
Candid and eloquently crafted, THIS CHILD OF FAITH is not only a spiritual memoir, but an expression of one parent’s reverence for the munificence and potential of youth.
This book is as much about Tain’s spiritual journey as it is that of his mother, author Sophfronia Scott. Determined not to force a specific religious practice on her son—something that had dissuaded her from joining a religious community in the past—Scott chose to step back and observe how her son approached the process, inspired by his example to overcome her own apprehension.
The book ends in the present, with Tain on the cusp of his teenage years. With fewer kids attending church, it’s a time when being religious isn’t exactly seen as “cool.” We’re left with a sense that, as a spiritual child in a secular world, Tain will continue to be tested, but that his faith will see him through, as it has in the past.
Candid and eloquently crafted, THIS CHILD OF FAITH is not only a spiritual memoir, but an expression of one parent’s reverence for the munificence and potential of youth.
January 3, 2018
I loved this book. What a trusting faith the author has--faith enough to trust the faith which her son has been given. And as a pastor myself, I kept thinking as I was reading, "I want to be like Pastor Kathie!"
If you're looking for a book that has all the answers about raising a spiritual child in a secular word, this is not the book for you. That's part of the point. Faith is a gift. Faith is not something that can be prescribed, only nurtured. Sophfronia Scott graciously allows the reader to enter in to her own family's faith formation, and that is more than enough.
If you're looking for a book that has all the answers about raising a spiritual child in a secular word, this is not the book for you. That's part of the point. Faith is a gift. Faith is not something that can be prescribed, only nurtured. Sophfronia Scott graciously allows the reader to enter in to her own family's faith formation, and that is more than enough.
December 6, 2017
An excellent and inspiring resource for parents and religious leaders.
As an ordained clergyman, I wish I had had copies of this excellent book on my bookshelf to give to the many parents who came to me asking how to help their child or children develop a spiritual or religious faith. Mind you, it is not an instructional “how-to” book. The genius of the book is that novelist and essayist Sophfronia Scott does not merely advise other parents how to go about inspiring or passing on faith to their child, in this instance, Christian faith. Rather, she has invited her young son, Tain Gregory, to give us “Tain’s Take” following each of her accounts of events in his life and developments in his spirituality. Moreover, her genius as a parent is that at every juncture, she takes her cues for discussing the life of faith from him rather than filling an empty vessel with too much information before he is not prepared to receive it. Mother grows in her spirituality alongside, and often because of, her son’s spiritual growth.
—Rev. Jack A. Saarela, Wyncote, PA
As an ordained clergyman, I wish I had had copies of this excellent book on my bookshelf to give to the many parents who came to me asking how to help their child or children develop a spiritual or religious faith. Mind you, it is not an instructional “how-to” book. The genius of the book is that novelist and essayist Sophfronia Scott does not merely advise other parents how to go about inspiring or passing on faith to their child, in this instance, Christian faith. Rather, she has invited her young son, Tain Gregory, to give us “Tain’s Take” following each of her accounts of events in his life and developments in his spirituality. Moreover, her genius as a parent is that at every juncture, she takes her cues for discussing the life of faith from him rather than filling an empty vessel with too much information before he is not prepared to receive it. Mother grows in her spirituality alongside, and often because of, her son’s spiritual growth.
—Rev. Jack A. Saarela, Wyncote, PA
November 28, 2017
Sophfronia Scott’s beautiful "This Child of Faith" is a deceptively simple book that addresses the most crucial aspects of life: love, faith, grief, hope, and all infused with the glowing and sincere belief in the goodness of the human spirit. The book also adopts an unusual point of view, in that the story is a team effort written by both mother and young son. Sophfronia is an astute observer, who keenly listens to the world around her, including lessons often presented to her by children. Her book asks the question of how to raise a spiritual child in today’s world. The answer may be in how she chooses to navigate and live her life, insistent but never insisting, and that is truly contagious in the most miraculous way.
November 30, 2017
Easy to read, This Child of Faith, will appeal to readers of all ages. While the book focuses on the spiritual journey of Tain and Sophfronia, it provided telling insight to guide anyone searching for their faith. And when you're finished, you'll feel as if you've traveled along with them.
December 29, 2024
The subtitle should be changed from "Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World" to "A Kinder, Gentler Way to Brainwash Your Kids." She uses VeggieTales to get her kid excited to go to church.
The author's kid attended Sandy Hook Elementary on the infamous December day when Adam Lanza shot his mother, then 26 first graders and faculty before taking his own worthless life. However, this is only addressed for about 30 of the book's pages. The death of her sister made more of an impact than the school shooting.
Speaking of the sister, when she died, she left behind two dogs. The kid asks what's going to happen to the dogs, and Mom says, "I don't know." You could make a drinking game every time she writes "I don't know."
We're never told what happens to the dogs.
This is such sloppy writing. Why bother mentioning the dogs if you don't follow through as to what happened to them?
Fuck her stupid kid and fuck her stupid faith. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DOGS?
She claims she wants to raise her kid with faith ... yet never says why. She gives many weird definitions of the word faith, none of them being correct. Faith means belief without proof. You know ... being a sucker.
She's raised Christian and yet knows practically nothing of her religion. She has a Bible and never could be bothered reading more than Genesis, Psalms and some of Exodus. She refuses to believe in Hell. She doesn't know if there is an afterlife. She marries a non-Christian. She becomes Episcapalian, even though she knows nothing about it. She chose the church because she liked the proud, happy congregation. You know, the "fake it until you make it" crowd.
Yeah, great faith you got there, moron.
Her stupid wunderkind Tain is filmed in a documentary on Sandy Hook saying that the most important thing to him was God.
And Mom is so proud.
Well, congrats, Mom -- you succeeded in brainwashing your kid. Don't be surprised if, soon after an argument, your kid announces that he's been called by God to go to Columbia. This is so he can get as far away from you as possible.
This is exactly what my own brother did. Both my parents were Born Again assholes thst sent us to a strict religious school that constantly told us that God was the most important thing in our lives. My parents got worse after they divorced. Our church shunned my Mom because she was the one who initiated the divorce, so she was forced to leave. I moved out as soon as I could, but at least I was honest about why. My brother got all Super Christian and my parents bought it. Even gave him money for his teaching gig in Bogata. He's never lived in the same country as my Mom ever since.
Faith means nothing. IT IS NOT A VIRTURE.
Tain's gonna be really pissed when he finds out church is all a money making scam. Learning the truth about Santa is NOTHING compared to learning the truth about God, the Bible and your brothers and sisters in Christ, who can't wait to stab you in the back.
Those two poor dogs were better than any God.
The author's kid attended Sandy Hook Elementary on the infamous December day when Adam Lanza shot his mother, then 26 first graders and faculty before taking his own worthless life. However, this is only addressed for about 30 of the book's pages. The death of her sister made more of an impact than the school shooting.
Speaking of the sister, when she died, she left behind two dogs. The kid asks what's going to happen to the dogs, and Mom says, "I don't know." You could make a drinking game every time she writes "I don't know."
We're never told what happens to the dogs.
This is such sloppy writing. Why bother mentioning the dogs if you don't follow through as to what happened to them?
Fuck her stupid kid and fuck her stupid faith. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DOGS?
She claims she wants to raise her kid with faith ... yet never says why. She gives many weird definitions of the word faith, none of them being correct. Faith means belief without proof. You know ... being a sucker.
She's raised Christian and yet knows practically nothing of her religion. She has a Bible and never could be bothered reading more than Genesis, Psalms and some of Exodus. She refuses to believe in Hell. She doesn't know if there is an afterlife. She marries a non-Christian. She becomes Episcapalian, even though she knows nothing about it. She chose the church because she liked the proud, happy congregation. You know, the "fake it until you make it" crowd.
Yeah, great faith you got there, moron.
Her stupid wunderkind Tain is filmed in a documentary on Sandy Hook saying that the most important thing to him was God.
And Mom is so proud.
Well, congrats, Mom -- you succeeded in brainwashing your kid. Don't be surprised if, soon after an argument, your kid announces that he's been called by God to go to Columbia. This is so he can get as far away from you as possible.
This is exactly what my own brother did. Both my parents were Born Again assholes thst sent us to a strict religious school that constantly told us that God was the most important thing in our lives. My parents got worse after they divorced. Our church shunned my Mom because she was the one who initiated the divorce, so she was forced to leave. I moved out as soon as I could, but at least I was honest about why. My brother got all Super Christian and my parents bought it. Even gave him money for his teaching gig in Bogata. He's never lived in the same country as my Mom ever since.
Faith means nothing. IT IS NOT A VIRTURE.
Tain's gonna be really pissed when he finds out church is all a money making scam. Learning the truth about Santa is NOTHING compared to learning the truth about God, the Bible and your brothers and sisters in Christ, who can't wait to stab you in the back.
Those two poor dogs were better than any God.
February 20, 2018
Sophfronia Scott and Tain Gregory, in This Child of Faith, prove themselves trustworthy guides. Their parallel faith journeys remain curious, resilient, and adventurous, and I read the book not with the sense of an outsider, but with the sense of being drawn alongside them in their explorations.
As a mother of two young children, I found myself grateful for Sophfronia's wise, humble, and experimental example. This book has already made my parenting both bolder and softer, more open to leading. The pages chronicle, in part, Tain's young struggle through the loss of loved ones, culminating in the catastrophic tragedy at Sandy Hook in which he and Sophfronia lost a best friend and godson. Despite my healthy dose of skepticism regarding the church, this book convinced me once again that faith is not something to force on our children but is instead a gift we can help them open for themselves.
Ultimately, This Child of Faith revived me because it confronted my staid adult mind with the fresh perspective of a child's. Scott puts it succinctly when she writes, “Growing up is like slowly awakening from a long dream, and the rest of your life is about trying to remember the truth of it, because you have a sense that it is real on some deep level. You want to remember, because what you knew then is what you most need to know now.”
Thank you, Sophfronia and Tain, for leading me closer to the truth I need now.
As a mother of two young children, I found myself grateful for Sophfronia's wise, humble, and experimental example. This book has already made my parenting both bolder and softer, more open to leading. The pages chronicle, in part, Tain's young struggle through the loss of loved ones, culminating in the catastrophic tragedy at Sandy Hook in which he and Sophfronia lost a best friend and godson. Despite my healthy dose of skepticism regarding the church, this book convinced me once again that faith is not something to force on our children but is instead a gift we can help them open for themselves.
Ultimately, This Child of Faith revived me because it confronted my staid adult mind with the fresh perspective of a child's. Scott puts it succinctly when she writes, “Growing up is like slowly awakening from a long dream, and the rest of your life is about trying to remember the truth of it, because you have a sense that it is real on some deep level. You want to remember, because what you knew then is what you most need to know now.”
Thank you, Sophfronia and Tain, for leading me closer to the truth I need now.
January 23, 2021
This was SO GOOD. The thing that really blew me away was Scott’s unspoken decision to trust to trust her child, which ultimately came from trusting the way she had raised him to process information and emotions. So many people don’t do that, especially with boy children. This was so encouraging, giving me a new way of looking at parenthood. Of course all of this centers around faith, since that’s all faith is, is trust. I loved the “faith in his pain,” this intense love that makes you believe your child. I can’t believe more people don’t do this and yet, I totally get it. This type of love requires a level of security that most people will never reach, unfortunately.
September 16, 2020
I read an article in Yankee magazine by Sophfronia Scott, and so loved her writing that I put this book on my "to read" list. I finally acquired a copy of it through Interlibrary Loan, and settled down to immerse myself into this lovely book. It's a quick read, and flowed so well. I really enjoyed the way the book was set up, with Tain's Takes. So much to revel in and learn from, and be inspired by. I will highly recommend this book to my friends who are raising children in this world, as well as the Sunday School teacher at my church. Thank you!
May 28, 2022
I am not exactly sure how to characterize this book. But the best way to describe it is that it is the story of a journey of a mother and son -- of both of their faith journeys over a few years as they discover and grow in faith and God and the rhythms of church. It is about questions and grieving and the insights that both of them have.
A small part of this journey is their journey through the events of December 2012, when Tain (the son) lost one of his best friends in the shooting in Newtown.
A small part of this journey is their journey through the events of December 2012, when Tain (the son) lost one of his best friends in the shooting in Newtown.
February 28, 2018
Wonderful book about one family’s faith journey in this world.
June 7, 2023
A personal remembrance of Sandy Hook but so much more of a telling of faith as a journey for both this mother and her son. Very readable, helpful, personal.
July 31, 2021
Amazing book because the spiritual revelations are pure. Genuine discovery of Tain Gregory’s relationship with faith.
Tain shares along with his gifted, tenacious mother his take on an imperfect but precious and expanding world. I am reading it again because it is an encouragement in a time of trouble.
Tain shares along with his gifted, tenacious mother his take on an imperfect but precious and expanding world. I am reading it again because it is an encouragement in a time of trouble.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews