Published by Tyndale on February 21, 2023
Genres: Non-Fiction, Memoir
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New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestseller!
An incredibly thoughtful, disarmingly funny, and intensely vulnerable glimpse into the life and ministry of a woman familiar to many but known by few.
“It’s a peculiar thing, this having lived long enough to take a good look back. We go from knowing each other better than we know ourselves to barely sure if we know each other at all, to precisely sure that we don’t. All my knotted-up life I’ve longed for the sanity and simplicity of knowing who’s good and who’s bad. I’ve wanted to know this about myself as much as anyone. This was not theological. It was strictly relational. God could do what he wanted with eternity. I was just trying to make it here in the meantime. As benevolent as he has been in a myriad of ways, God has remained aloof on this uncomplicated request .” – Beth Moore
New York Times best-selling author, speaker, visionary, and founder of Living Proof Ministries Beth Moore has devoted her whole life to helping women across the globe come to know the transforming power of Jesus. An established writer of many acclaimed books and Bible studies for women on spiritual growth and personal development, Beth now unveils her own story in a much-anticipated debut memoir.
All My Knotted-Up Life
All My Knotted-Up Life is told with surprising candor about some of the personal heartbreaks and behind-the-scenes challenges that have marked Beth’s life. But beyond that, it’s a beautifully crafted portrait of resilience and survival, a poignant reminder of God’s enduring faithfulness, and proof positive that if we ever truly took the time to hear people’s full stories . . . we’d all walk around slack-jawed.
Of course, I know of Beth Moore! Everybody in evangelical circles knows of Beth Moore! But truth be told, I really didn’t know that much about Beth Moore, particularly pre-2016 Beth Moore. I’m not exactly her target audience. But her influence was felt through her Bible studies in the church library, the moms and aunties in my life whose women’s groups followed her teaching, and her general maverick (token?) nature as a high-profile woman in the SBC.
My attention was first drawn to Moore when a lot of people’s attention was drawn to Moore—when she condemned then-candidate Donald Trump’s statements about being able to get away with sexually abusing women. Finally! Evangelical women are standing up and… No. It turns out that not even Beth Moore’s influence over evangelical women was enough to stem the tide and keep us from keeping precisely the kind of leader we deserved.
But All My Knotted-Up Life isn’t about this version of Beth Moore—the one who laid her reputation and career on the line to honor her convictions and integrity—but rather about how she became that person. It’s not even so much about her rise within evangelicalism or an exploration of being a female leader within a male-dominated space. (Something I wish Moore had reflected more deeply upon.) Rather, this is mostly the story about Beth the person whose life story isn’t all that different from a lot of people of her era and geography. It makes her story accessible, relatable, and even folksy as she offers readers a nuanced and emotionally-layered recollection of formative events throughout her life.
For those familiar with Beth Moore’s teaching, All My Knotted-Up Life retains her characteristic tone and humor, using that as a vehicle to touch on more serious and sober issues. Moore is characteristically kind to her detractors, in particular the Southern Baptist denomination she left behind (or, rather, left her behind). At points, I wish it had gone deeper into the many tensions within Moore’s ministry: being a female leader in a denomination rebuking female leaders, how her leadership was justified under complementarian theology, the political fall-out of rebuking Donald Trump, and so on. At other points, I was thankful for its simple focus on Moore’s home life—showcasing her belief that her family and faithfulness, not the business of celebrity and fame, is the story that was worth sharing.
The back cover of All My Knotted-Up Life says that it tells the story of “a woman familiar to many but known to few” and that’s a powerful and perfect descriptor. It’s a vulnerable look into Beth Moore the person, not Beth Moore the ministry figure. It’s a story about following God’s calling, trusting God for results, and remaining faithful when it all comes crashing down. Full of humility, humor, and poignant observations, All My Knotted-Up Life not only gives readers an intimate look into Beth Moore’s life journey but causes us to reflect on our own journeys as well.