What I like most about Max Lucado is he is able to create a wonderful religion-filled book without preaching. By placing God's help in the Higher Grounds Coffee Shop, he's able to show how a guardian angel can help a struggling family.

"Help my unbelief."
How? And...really?

Chelsea Chambers' s life has been not short of pain, and this has bittered her a bit. After all, to know about her husband's affair is not easy, more if when the said husband is a well-known NFL player. Now they are estranged and Chelsea plans to live off the Higher Grounds Café, the old-fashioned cafe which her grandmother and mother owned before her, too. But there is not much interest about the cafe and the pain is not dulling. But Chelsea is not alone. Unbeknownst to her, all the Heaven has her back. And her employee Manny might be more than he seems to be...more like an angel?
And what is this God blog thing about?

This is a feel-good, sweet book about how we are never alone. God has our backs, everytime.

But - yes. Being sweet and warm, this is also not a very complicated read. Don't get me wrong, it is not a shallow book! A few times I stopped my reading to think about my circumstances, as this novel also poses a few issues hiting quite close to home. But it is predictable read, where nothing is too hard, really, and everything is solvable if you believe. Which I believe! But yet I miss the deeper touch, the more of real tears, the deeper lookout for God.

But having said that - this is also a heart-stirring book. And maybe this is the most important thing, as the heart needs to be stirred to really look out for Him.

I did not realize that I had not submitted my review for this book. My apologies.

Synopsis

Chelsea Chambers is on her own. After a public split from her NFL superstar husband, Chelsea takes a bold step out of the limelight and behind the counter of the Higher Grounds Café, an old-fashioned coffee shop in dire need of reinvention. But when her courage, expert planning, and out-of-this-world cupcakes fail to pay the bills, this newly single mom finds herself desperate for help. Better yet, a miracle.

Then a curious stranger lands at Chelsea’s door, and with him, an even more curious string of events. Soon, customers are flocking to the Higher Grounds Café, and not just for the cupcakes and cappuccino. They’ve come for the internet connection to the divine. Now the café has become the go-to place for people in search of answers to life’s biggest questions.

When a catastrophe strikes and her ex comes calling, Chelsea begins to wonder if the whole universe is conspiring against her quest to make it on her own. After a shocking discovery opens her eyes to the unseen world around her, Chelsea finds the courage to ask God a question of her own. Heaven answers in a most unexpected way. (summary from the publisher)

Book Review 



I really like this book, because even though I am not going through a high-profile split I feel like a need someone to care.  I need someone to hold my hand.  God is here and is helping. I know the reason I am in this situation, but I don't understand why it keeps going the way it does.  It is a good book to read and get your thoughts wrapped around it and maybe you feel better.

My first encounter with Lucado’s fiction. Kind of predictable, but good characters and a really neat perspective on spiritual warfare.