Book Review – On Getting Out of Bed – The Burden and Gift of Living By Alan Noble

Wow, I was really impressed with this book and Noble’s taking on these sensitive issues. This is not a self-help book nor is it a “let go and let God” book. It is not a “name it and claim it” nor is it a “put on sack clothes and ashes it’s you’re fault” book. What this book is is a needed reminder that life is hard, we can go through hard times and live in hard ways, but God is God who has made promises we can trust and one of those promises is that He loves His children. This is a book about looking at depression, mental illness, panic attacks, or just feeling down through that lens and taking it on with the balance Noble gives it. I was so impressed with the balance here.

Noble stands on the line of truth and understanding. He will caution against over-diagnosis but then caution against turning a blind eye to issues that one needs to find help. He tells painful truths like one needs to avoid reveling in the dower nature for the attention of others while also being lovingly kind to people who stay silent to not burden people who need to seek out help from others. The overall arch is that sometimes just doing one little thing, like getting out of bed, is a goal and then you find your next, right thing to do.

Noble hangs the truth on a couple of different truths. 1) Being made in the image of God shows like our life is precious, 2) God has made promises we should believe in and one of the ways we can believe them is to show by actively doing so, and 3) we can biblically love ourselves, not in the worldly, superficial way but in the 1 Corinthians 13 way.

This is a book that I finished and ordered a physical copy to mark up and lend out to others. I would call this book one of my “reverse highlight” books in that I would have made it through it quicker if I highlighted what I DIDN’T want to pay attention to on quick glance. Noble’s care and love for those struggling is evident and not just as someone who puts forward the “I am one of you too” but in the “God is a God who keeps His promises and the ultimate goal is for us keep on living for His glory”. I highly recommend this book (I ordered his other two as well because of this).