Celebrate Lit / July 5, 2021

Going South

About the Book Going South

Book: Going South

Author: Marsha Moston

Genre: Christian nonfiction—humorous, inspirational, Christian-living memoir

Release date: January 2021

When Bob and Marcia Moston told their friends they were moving south, they meant it as a geographical move. They didn’t expect their plans to go south too.

Trusting his wife’s previously sound judgment, Bob agrees to have Marcia go ahead of him and pick out a house—an efficient, low-maintenance one. It was a good plan. If only Marcia had stuck to it.

But when she veers from the plan, the couple finds themselves overwhelmed with the consequences of a seemingly bad decision. Marcia looks for encouragement in the story of Jacob—the patriarchal bad boy, remembered more for the predicaments he got himself into than for his commendable deeds—and the God who is not deterred by our plots, plans, stratagems, and side trips.

Written with heart, humor, and biblical insight, Going South—with the God of Jacob’s and My Mistakes offers hope and encouragement to those who find their lives upturned by a geographical move, a chaotic economy, a backfired dream, or just a plain bad choice.

Click here to get your copy!

My Thoughts on Going South

Humor abounds in this book about remodeling and moving on. I felt this was the perfect time for me to read it as I’m 36 weeks pregnant and we’re in the middle of a total bathroom remodel. Let’s just say it’s been fun. We will have our own stories to tell though I’m sure it won’t be quite as eloquently and definitely have a different spin as we’re adding in eleven kids and my pregnant self.

I enjoyed the forays into the Bible within the book as well. At first, I wasn’t sure how they would tie it all together but the author did an amazing job doing this and it really read well.

Think of this book as half memoir, half encouragement, and a whole lot of laughs and I think you’ve got the general idea of what the book is going to be like.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received through Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

About the Author of Going South

Marcia Moston, the award-winning author of Call of a Coward—the God of Moses and the Middle-Class Housewife, has contributed to several magazines, anthologies, and newspaper columns. She loves to write about the possibilities of life in the hands of a very real God. Marcia teaches workshops in narrative nonfiction and makes a home in South Carolina with her Bob.

More from Marcia

We were no superstar, sledgehammer-wielding, Fixer Upper Chip and Joanna Gaines. But I was confident my husband and I could handle the repairs that the house I had bought needed. After all, we were handy—solid do-it-yourselfers, excited about starting a new phase of life in a part of the country we’d never lived.

Armed with enthusiasm, experience, and degrees, we didn’t anticipate any problems finding jobs or making friends. And I certainly didn’t anticipate I’d be hanging telephone directories on doorknobs or stuffing vending machines to make ends meet. But our ravenous little fixer-upper had a bigger appetite than we expected and was devouring our funds in record time.

Before long we began to realize we’d left life as we knew it somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line. I wondered if, instead of running strong to the finish line of our lives, we would be crawling across it, covered in sheetrock dust and regrets.

It’s one thing to suffer for a noble cause, but quite another when you find yourself in messes and muddles of your own making time and time again. Like Jacob, some of us have to wrestle an angel of the Lord all night before we get to the end of ourselves and trust that the Lord can and will orchestrate all he’s appointed for us.

I wrote about our southern saga foibles in Going South with the God of Jacob’s and My Mistakes as an entertaining reminder for all of us trying to find our way home, that even when we make bad decisions and big mistakes, the Carpenter of Nazareth can fashion something beautiful from the dust and debris we trail behind.