Just As I Am by Virginia Smith

Just finished the most refreshing young adult novel I think I've ever read. "Just As I Am" by Virginia Smith is a resounding reply to the statement "I'd become a Christian if I could ever see what one was really like."

Mayla Strong has purple hair, a pierced nose, and a pierced chin...and she has just become a believer in Christ. Newly baptized and feeling "scrubbed clean, but on the inside", she doesn't know how to do anything but live our her new faith genuinely and sincerely.

She encounters hostility, skepticism, and judgement from both the church crowd and the regular crowd she runs with. But her faith is so new, it is strong enough for her to simply get out of God's way and let Him have His way.

What follows is a refreshing view of what the world is desperate to see...real people living out real faith in a real God and real Savior, Jesus Christ.

It blows being perfect out of the water....Mayla is far from it. It blows judging sin out of the water....Mayla tells her lost and gay friend who is dying "Jesus loves you and He just wants you to be with him when you die"...which is true. Jesus cares more about the homosexual learning about and loving Him...He'll take care of the rest.

She calls her pastor with her questions, and she holds his feet to the fire on the answers. Pastor Paul is the kind of real, genuine, caring pastor we all look for...he's not so busy building his own church kingdom that he forgets to be about building God's kingdom.

"Just As I Am" is not a long novel...but it packs a powerful punch that I think all believers would benefit from. I highly recommend this novel...I believe it's closer to the way God wants us all to live.

Happy Reading!

Deena