The Strategy of Satan: How to Detect and Defeat Him by Warren Wiersbe (Audiobook)

Coming Soon

All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir by Brennan Manning (Audiobook)

Disturbed. That’s the best word I know to describe how I felt after finishing this book—but not for the reasons one might think. I was disturbed in a good way (more about that later). Having read much of Brennan Manning’s work over the years, I was looking forward to hearing his story in his own words. I wanted to know the missing pieces, to understand better how the ragamuffin came to be such a wounded healer. I had gathered parts of Manning’s story from his books and messages. However, hearing the earthy descriptions of some of his setbacks surprised me—but then again they didn’t. 

Manning has had an unusual life compared to some, full of diverse experiences in Europe and the United States (military service, joining a Franciscan order, campus ministry, leaving the priesthood, marriage, becoming a prolific author and speaker). However, his struggles are the struggles of everyone who recognizes his or her own frailty and need for God’s grace and mercy. Just substitute the names and details of your own heartaches, failings, and fractured relationships. But he’s also been blessed to have dedicated, grace-giving friends who have lavished him with love along the way, a reflection of God’s heart.

Throughout the book, I found myself hitting two buttons over and over—the thirty-second rewind and the stop—to meditate on a profound thought or reflect on how something Manning wrote informed an aspect of my own life.

Manning wanted to be brutally honest in sharing his story, though admittedly, he chose to leave some parts out. Nevertheless, what he did share about his upbringing, the lack of a close relationship with his mother (he does know the freedom of forgiveness regarding this issue), leaving the priesthood, a marriage that ended in divorce, and his life-long struggle with alcoholism was revealing. As the apt title infers, that someone who wrestled as he did could write books that have brought healing to so many (The Ragmuffin Gospel, Abba’s Child, and more) is evidence of the grace of God in his life—and through Brennan Manning, to us.

In his old age, he has three words to answer the question of how someone who wrote the books he did could repeatedly lapse into alcoholism. “These things happen.” He responds to critics who claim he preaches a cheap grace, saying “not so,” that his message is a “banana peel” to the orthodox. 

The narrator did an excellent job—his style was conversational, his inflections were appropriate. His speaking cadence was neither too fast nor too slow (as in some audiobooks). In short, I felt as though I was sitting in a large comfy chair in a cozy room by a fireplace, listening to Brennan Manning share his wounded, yet joyful, heart.

So how did this book “disturb” me? It reminded me of what I know but need to remember every day—that the Savior came to bind up the broken-hearted, offering His yoke to those with heavy burdens, that we bring nothing to Him except our brokenness—and that is really where it begins for those who are truly poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3).

If you haven’t read any of Brennan Manning’s books, read them and then read this one— or read this one first and then marvel at the wisdom that only a broken man can dispense.*****

A complimentary copy of the book was provided by the publisher, christianaudio.