Book Review: "Any Minute" by Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford

Sarah Harper is driven to achieve success no matter what the cost. She wants to do good and not hurt the people she loves--especially her son, Mitchell, and her husband, Joe--but her desire to succeed in her career too often leaves little time for family.

One cold, autumn afternoon, all of that changes when Sarah's car plunges off a bridge and into a river. She is pronounced clinically dead to those on the "outside," but Sarah's spirit is still very much alive. What she discovers on the other side transforms everything about Sarah's view of life--past, present, and future.

When Sarah is revived, she is a changed woman. And the unsuspecting world around her will never be the same again.

This book reminded me very much of the movie "It's a Wonderful Life." The message is that we don't know how much time we have left, and that any minute we could be taken away. Cherish the time you have with your family and don't take them for granted. Throughout the first half of the book, I just wanted to keep screaming at Sarah for the flippant way she was treating her family. I understand that her job was important, but the fact that she couldn't see how it was affecting her relationships really bugged me. I appreciated that the book did not try to make it seem that it was condemning women who work outside of the home and being away from their children. I have read some Christian fiction books that seem to make that point and it always annoyed me at how chauvinist it seemed that the women was supposed to stay at home while the man is the one that does all the work.. In this book however, the story is not blaming Sarah for wanting to work, just how she happened to handle everything.

I think the harshest moment in the book was the fact that Sarah has sacrificed everything for her boss and the company, and has pretty much died trying to do things for them. Yet it doesn't seem to matter at all. Her boss, after finding out about her death, pretty much dismisses it and is already looking to replace her with no sympathy at all. Another heart wrenching aspect of the story is when Sarah realizes why her mother treated and acted the way she did towards Sarah her entire life. While it still doesn't give her the right to act that way towards her daughter, Sarah's mother becomes a more sympathetic character when we find out about her past.

If there's anything I didn't like about the book, it would have to be the ending. I just thought it was too "let's tidy up everything" and seemed rather predictable. I thought it would have had a better effect if the unexpected had happened. Other than this, I enjoyed the book and thought it was a good read with a strong message. It makes you see life in a whole new way.

Any Minute by Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford is published by Faithwords (2009)