Blessed are the Misfits by Brant Hansen is an interesting book that addresses common spiritual struggles that introverts experience, from the perspective of a “misfit” who understands their struggles firsthand.

 

This book provides encouragement for people who may have believed their spiritual struggles were unique and assures them that they are not the only ones experiencing them.

 

 

There is no denying that this book is written with a specific audience in mind. There are warnings on the back cover and within the first pages urging some readers to avoid this book entirely. Brant has written this book for people he has coined the “misfits”: introverts, spiritual strugglers and people who feel like they’re missing something. I can relate to encountering many of the struggles he explores throughout this book, but at times I sensed that I probably wasn’t the person Brant was writing this book for.

 

Even though I may not be a “misfit” who this book was written for, I did find value in it. In fact, there were two things I learned from this book that I will be forever grateful for. Brant explained Holy Communion in a way that has provided me with a new perspective and appreciation of it. Also, the insights he shared on prayer have helped me to approach prayer differently and have equipped me with a strategy to overcome the drifting of my thoughts while praying.

 

The conversational tone and Brant’s honesty really make this book an easy read. Yet, several times throughout the book he drifts from the topic at hand to share random things that he was experiencing in real-time while writing. Sometimes those random things aid the point he’s discussing and other times they are completely out of place. Instances like these hinder the flow of the book and provide a disjointed reading experience at times.

 

There is something about this book that really concerns me. There is a very fine line between encouraging readers, by letting them know they don’t need to be perfect or fit a certain mold in order to love and relate with God, and providing an excuse for spiritually lazy people to neglect their spiritual development. By no means do I believe Brant is attempting to give readers a way to cop out of pursuing more spiritually disciplined lives, but it’s hard to deny that some readers may do just that. Once again, that is no fault of Brant’s, I just believe this book would be more balanced if there were some practical strategies, along with the encouragement and the relatable experiences of the author, to assist readers with working through and potentially overcoming their spiritual struggles. Without that balance, it seems like the book is implying not only is it okay to struggle spiritually, but that it’s totally fine to continue struggling. Yes, many of us struggle spiritually, but by no means should we desire to continue struggling. We should acknowledge our struggles and find ways to overcome them and improve our relationship with God in the process.

 

Overall, this is a decent book. It is sure to resonate with some more than others. If readers are in need of encouragement amidst their spiritual struggles, this book can surely provide encouragement in knowing they aren’t struggling alone. There was one sentence that I believe sums up the heart of this book wonderfully: “The absence of feeling is not the absence of love.” God truly does loves us all, “misfit” or otherwise.

 

If you would like to learn more, you can check the book out on Amazon.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program.