The book came weeks ago so I could read and review it before the release date. Upon opening the cover and starting to read, I realized I was quickly devouring the chapters. Yet I did not want to do this, and so I slowed down, reading a little at a time.

The book released into the world yesterday, and I read the very last page on Monday.

You know it is a good book when you come to the last words and you regret coming to the end!

My life is quite ordinary, filled with the normal activities of the average woman. Perhaps this is the reason The Ministry of Ordinary Places by Shannan Martin spoke deeply to my heart.

This has been one of the best books I have read this year. I was convicted and motivated, to both love more deeply and reach out to those in my ordinary places. Each chapter is a wake up call to pay attention as we go through our ordinary days, for it is in these very places we will find the adventure we have been called to live.

Shannan writes with an authenticity and transparency sure to stir many hearts to action. Her word imagery will soak into the heart and mind of readers, and so I present to you my favorite quotes from each chapter:

1. “We will have to choose to widen our circle and allow our lives to become tangled up with those around us.”
2. “This is the alchemy of the ordinary, my humdrum humanity fusing with your to create something altogether extraordinary.”
3. “We change, soften, sharpen, and grow as we gather with and listen to those who are not replicas of ourselves and whose experiences are outside our own.”
4. “The health and well-being of our communities depend on our willingness to taste sadness with joy and pain along with redemption.”
5. “What I’m learning is that it’s as easy as looking out the window and noticing.”
6. “Our tendency to group ourselves according to shared demographics has caused us to miss the most important one: a longing to be known just as we are, in all our rumpled-jeans, misbehaving-kids, tire-eyes-non-glory. And at the end of the day, isn’t that all of us?
7. “Without the weariness there is no thrill of hope. Without receiving, we miss the richness of giving. Without accepting what we do not deserve, we miss Emmanuel in our living rooms and all around town.”
8. The table – “While it’s not always easy in practice, it’s worth the time and effort.”
9. “Sometimes following Christ means our relationships might be chipped up, or even shattered.”
10. “Bearing witness to lack constantly exposes my abundance in ways I find inconvenient and uncomfortable.”
11. “We want to know we’re not alone. We want someone to listen, and to root for us.”
12. “Any sacrifice drawn from a well of compassion is an act of everyday heroism.”
13. “We are lion-hearted mamas, every one of us, made to roar for the kiddos most closely within our reach.”
14. “People > Systems. Every time.”
15. “Small is great, and invisible lights the way.”
16. “Help us to hang on for the encore, where your best work often waits.”
17. “We get to be fascinated by God every day.”
18. “Making the world better for one person makes the world better.”
19. “The deep peace of Christ the light of the world to you.”

As a member of this book’s launch team, I did receive an Advance Reader Copy from Harper Collins Christian Publishers. But I recommend this book because the book will leave you changed and awakened to God’s goodness all around you in the most ordinary of places. This post contains an affiliate link at no extra cost to you.

You can follow Shannan Martin in the following places: her blog – Shannan Martin Writes; Facebook; Twitter .