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Unafraid: Trusting God in an Unsafe World

Review

Unafraid: Trusting God in an Unsafe World

Susie Davis (wife of Will Davis, Jr.) shares openly about the tragic day that changed her life and her view of God forever in this poignant text. Davis, who had a wonderful relationship with her eighth-grade English teacher (who also told her she had a gift for writing), endured the unimaginable when a quiet, shy neighbor boy walked into their classroom and shot the teacher dead. Davis recounts the other students’ shocked reactions as well as her own. Back in 1978, there were no protocols for school shootings, and everyone seemed at a loss as to how to handle the aftermath of grief that followed. Davis writes that, up to that point, she had always trusted that God (being a good God) would protect her. After this tragic incident, Davis no longer trusted Him to keep her safe.

"Davis’ work here will resonate with anyone (everyone?) who has ever been driven to distraction by his or her fears. UNAFRAID will help Christians learn to identify their fears and then bring each one to God and lay them at His feet for good."

Thus began years when Davis worked diligently to protect herself because she didn’t believe God would come through for her. She recalls being afraid to be alone in her house after the shooting because she wasn’t quite sure if the boy who killed her teacher might come home for a visit. She endured her high school years by pressing down her worries and fears as she attempted to forget what had happened. Once Davis went away to college, she believed it could be a fresh start. Instead, she began struggling with eating disorders in order to feel in control. Only when a counselor warned her that she was ruining her body for conceiving children did she stop. Still, her unbounded fear continued into her marriage.

After several moves and a couple of children, Davis was asked to join a women’s study group on healing hurts. She remembers crying out to God and subsequently fell apart one July afternoon when her kids were both napping and she laid down on the floor to rest. The flood of memories of that fateful day returned, and every sight, sound and smell were brought back vividly. Davis writes that she couldn’t do anything but lie there and fall apart. Through a song, she began to hear the refrain “Yet you are holy.” In that moment, God had broken through her reserve and started to heal her broken heart.

Of course, Davis realizes this was just the first of many steps to healing, and she continues to share with readers how God began --- slowly, bit by bit --- to dismantle her fears as she determined to change the way she handled fearful experiences and fear-provoking thoughts. Even today, there are moments when Satan whispers worrisome words into her mind, yet she turns the table on these defeat-driven thoughts and trusts God instead. Davis’ work here will resonate with anyone (everyone?) who has ever been driven to distraction by his or her fears. UNAFRAID will help Christians learn to identify their fears and then bring each one to God and lay them at His feet for good.

Reviewed by Michele Howe on June 18, 2015

Unafraid: Trusting God in an Unsafe World
by Susie Davis

  • Publication Date: April 21, 2015
  • Genres: Christian, Nonfiction
  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: WaterBrook Press
  • ISBN-10: 1601426399
  • ISBN-13: 9781601426390