This is Dallin H. Oaks' newest publication. It is a very quick read. All of the chapters are brief, self-contained chapters that are each only a few pages long. I think I give the book two stars. For some reason I was kind of disappointed. I love hearing Elder Oaks speak in conference, and so I had really high expectations. The chapters were so short that he doesn't go into as much detail as I would hope or like.
For example, the first chapter is about his father's death and how he learned that no matter how faithful and righteous the prayers of the faithful, nothing can change the will of God with some matters. He describes how his father got multiple priesthood blessings, some from high leadership in the Church, that said he would be healed, but he ended up dying anyway. This is an important and interesting principle, but what it did for me is raise more questions. Why, then, do all of those super righteous people not express God's will in their blessings, but their own? How can a person know if a blessing or prayer offered is the will and desire of the person giving it, or of God?
His mother, particularly, experienced great pain and internal conflict because of all those blessings offered. But he doesn't get into these latter questions, and I wish he would have.
There are lots of interesting tidbits about his life, because he uses a life experience to illustrate how he learned a certain principle. So, each chapter contains an experience from his life to connect to the principle. It was fun to learn new things about him.
Mostly, I wish the book and chapters were longer and more detailed. Simplicity can be good, but I thought this was way too simplified.
That's disappointing-- I wanted to read that book, and also had very high expectations, but after reading this I think I may pass on it. Thanks for the review!
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