Excerpt from the Forward:
"It is hard to grasp how marginalized and condescending most writing for Christian women is until you stumble disbelievingly onto something that is so profoundly...not. This book left me breathless. Stung at first by its many truths the way an ocean's wave slaps you sideways before it retreats into gentle waters beckoning reluctant toes into the deep. And deeper has never meant easier. Don't waste your money on this, if your soul needs more chicken soup.
Angela Blycker has no interest in defining the role of a Christian mother (who, but God, could carve that into each heart?) Rather, she longs to baptize us first with the knowledge of who we are before Christ, and then show us with beautiful enthusiasm how we might swim at the center of that powerful current, no longer struggling against it. Understanding the deep thirst in a mother, she fills our cup over and over, leading us back to "the One who has the divine ability to satisfy thirst with even more good thirst". I shed many tears into my own cup at this realization.
Her writing is fiercely alive with conviction and challenge, and still utterly personal, both raw and revealing. I will read it again and again and again."
~ Nichole Nordeman,
nine-time Dove Award winning contemporary Christian singer-songwriter
"Another how-to book for women and moms? Another convention book? Sure if the convention has Donald Miller, C.S. Lewis, Brennan Manning, Mother Teresa, and Bono in attendance. I haven't had this much fun since Chesterton's Orthodoxy, and yes it's all here in a book for women who are mothers.
In Running into Water, Angela Blycker unflinchingly addresses the guilt that, rationally or not, accompanies our efforts to be good women, moms or Christians. She unapologetically calls women to a cleanly painful yet far easier way to raise children and walk out Christianity before an unimpressed world: in Christ alone. Blycker shows both the human beauty and futility in our own efforts, and continually points to Christ for his freedom, his way. Here's the glorious kicker: she shows just how we can lay down our will, and the monstrous strength therein, and make an ally of God for his strength, his vision, his hope.
Speaking of...
I say of this work what C.S. Lewis said of a certain trilogy by a colleague of his, guy by the name of Tolkien: it is good beyond hope. That's what Angela gives us for the long haul in this dynamite volume--refreshing, immersing, and relieving hope. It's a book destined to be annotated, underlined, quoted, beat-up, and not lent out. You'll say of it with unqualified selfishness, get your own.The oil in this baby is mine. "
~ Tracy Groot, award winning novelist, author of Madman
"Angela Blycker's breath-taking book Running into Water is a visionary work with a fresh voice that captures the essence of God's great heart for the high calling of women and motherhood. Fed by the richness of her global experience and infused with incisive yet accessible literary and theological references, Blycker's book will stir the souls of mothers and all those thirsting to pass a deep love for God to a new generation. Running into Water is a book that will stand as a classic, speaking to women across cultures and generations."
~ Shelly Beach, 2008 Christy Award Winner, the author of The Silent Seduction of
Self-Talk and Contributor to The NIV Stewardship Study Bible
"This book is a personal, global and theological journey that compels a woman to unabashedly plunge into the living water, no matter the stage of life. Many women who are mothers tend to put their intellectual and spiritual development "on hold" only to find they are withering. Running into Water will motivate, refresh and integrate women and mothers globally toward wholeness and purpose with a sense of grace and power."
~ Dr. Jo Ann Lyons, founder of World Hope International, a faith based relief and development organization alleviating suffering and injustice through education, enterprise and community health, and current General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church
"Here is a completely unexpected and wondrous book, a wise and often profound journey to the place where the holy and mundane meet in our everyday lives as women and as mothers. With bracing honesty, courage, and depth, Angela Blycker shows us how to better lead our children in soul formation, and grow ourselves.This book shimmers with revelation, and I'm so excited to tell my thoughtful fellow women and mothers about Running into Water."
~ Lorilee Craker, author of several parenting books, including "Just Give Me a Little Piece of Quiet," and the co-author of the 2008 New York Times Bestseller "Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid Age," with Lynne Spears.
"A reflection of experience in the realities of life globally as a woman and a mother,
Running into Water demonstrates the refreshing, sustaining blessing of an intimate relationship with the author of this life, God himself. This fresh and compelling book will lead the reader deeper into God. A perceptive thinking woman and dedicated mother, Blycker presents the Water of Life in a way that will satisfy every thirsty soul."
~ Dr. Ronald Blue, Former President of Central American Mission International and current International Mobilizer of Latin Missions and coordinator of the Spanish Doctor of Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary.
