Customer Reviews

Total Abandon

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read Total Abandon in a single setting. This is a book about how God can enable a person to forgive the most horrific wrong. It's about how God can use the tragic death of a beautiful woman to accomplish great good. As you read Gary's words you'll feel like your best friend is setting beside you talking about how a terrorist attack ripped his heart apart. You'll hear him tell how great good grew from the darkest evil. If you're uncertain about whether or not to buy it . . . make the purchase. This is more than a great read . . . it's a book that will change your view of suffering . . . your view of disappointment . . . it will change your life.

This is the most moving book I have read in a long time. The
radical commitment and devotion to God and loving people Gary and Bonnie exhibited are almost unknown in our culture. This is a very sad story, yet not dismal; most impactive.

This is a challenging and gripping story of a missionary couple totally sold out to God. Well written and easy reading. A book you will not easily put down once you start. After 25 years if International Ministry, this book has reconfirmed why my wife and I have sacriticed and totally commited to serve Jesus and helped us to recommit to this lifestyle in a new way. A story every serious Christian should read.

I've had the opportunity to get to know this author personally - first on an overseas mission trip and then about a year later as a guest in our home here in Phoenix - one thing I can tell you for sure; Gary is the real deal. This author isn't someone who by chance happened to have a one-time "breaking news" event happen in his life and then went on to write a book about it. No, Gary lives the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is always "breaking news" and an encouragement to the Church.

This book is about authentic Christianity and giving it all for the sake of the call - which in reality is what "normal" Christianity should be; what the Bible tells us it is and what those who have gone on before us have proven it to be. This book will not only challenge you in your own walk with the Lord, but you also won't be able to put the book down. It is written wonderfully and captivates you from the opening forward, to the diary excerpts, to the pictures in the middle, to the poems written by Gary in the back of the book. At every turn you're left wondering, "What would I have done? How would I have responded? How would I have reacted?"

As you read this book, reflect on the extreme freedom that comes from living a life of forgiveness; even in the most horrific of circumstances. Hear the Lord speaking to you in the same words that He spoke to Bonnie, "I have not called you to a place; I have called you to Myself." Reflect on that truth as you read this book. God hasn't called you to a ministry, to a job, to a nation; He has called you to Himself ... and everything else flows out of that perfect center.

My wife and I had the honor of hearing Gary Witherall speak at the Voice Of The Martyrs national conference in June, 2006.

This easy to read book tells the story of Gary and Bonnie Witherall. I don't think I'm spoiling anything to mention that Bonnie was murdered by a terrorist in Lebanon in 2002.

This book is well written, and easy to follow. It contains excerpts of Gary's and Bonnie's journals, and gives more of an insight.

This book is appropriate for pre-teens to read; the violence that takes place is not graphic.

For me, I didn't love this book. It is an important story, and it is insightful. On the positive side, it shows how God is active in people's lives. It does have some facts that are not positive, though, and left me a little discouraged over all. This is my personal perspective.

Please don't let my review hinder you from reading this biography of a surrendered life. After all, this is what all Christians are called to.

Total Abandon is an engaging read! This book has also incredibly challenged the way that I live life. It compels me to honestly examine the way I live and WHAT I am living for. Gary and Bonnie's story has and still does challenges me to give up everything for Christ and live a life of total abandon to God. You will be confronted with a real story of a real woman who gave up everything to follow Jesus and how God has brought beauty and hope from tragedy in the life of her husband, Gary.

This book changed my life. I've read numerous books that point to a series of steps that articulate purpose in being a Christian. I've read books that give good instructions towards living a better Christian life. This book threw all of that aside. It tells the story of a man and a woman who simply took the word "go" in Matthew quite literally, and they went into a garbage filled world, carrying the Love as shown by Christ, and felt from the Holy Spirit. The result in martyr and Gary's forgiveness are a sidenote in this story. A sidenote to the indescribable power of God's Love that captures people.

This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend! Very personal insights that are inspiring. I knew Gary at college (MBI) and he is still very involved in missions work. His book should be read by Christians of any age or anyone who wants an inside look into true hearts of dedication to God.

Many that have reviewed this book find the story "life changing" for themselves.

I find it an example of misdirected faith. This is a young vibrant well liked couple. Well traveled, both come from priviledge homes and suddenly they are married and spending M-F, 9-5 in depressing jobs (debt collecting).

After 4 years, it would be enough for anyone, much more them. When a friend suggest to eat sand, they both take it as a sign from God. I'll stop here and say this:

They were praying and hoping to be missionaries, they wanted to serve the Lord, that we all agree on and is not the issue. The issue as I see it from this book, is understanding the will of God. First and foremost, God's will is about behavior.

As Christians we show the world around us we are different. For four years they had a tremendous opportunity to do just that...As I said this was a young vibrant attractive and well educated young couple living in Portland, Oregon where opportunity for them was plentiful.

Perhaps when they got their spiritual message to "GO", more thought should have gone to whether it meant to go across the globe where they spent most of their time learning the language and once again living, as described by Gary, a priviledge life in a high rise apartment with 3 bedrooms and a balcony over-looking the Med-sea.

God does not make things this complicated, there is simplicity in Christ!

The point is: There at the footsteps of their home in Portland are more homeless teenagers then in any other city in the US. This couple, by all accounts would have been ideal to engage a ministry outreach for these lost young souls.

God may have used these two for a far better reason then even Gary knows, they are an example for all of us to take the time and just look around, there is plenty of pain and suffering in the hopless right outside our doors. Being a missionary for Jesus Christ does not always mean, relocation.

This is a very tragic story indeed but one that may also offer lessons in the pursuit of serving the Lord.