When I first read what Pastor Emeritus Steve Estes wrote about From Worry to Wonder: Seeing God’s Goodness in Life’s Rearview Mirror, I had to put the paper down.

Not because it was long.

But because it wasn’t.

Pastor Estes begins with a line attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “This book has too much space between its covers.” Then he adds, “Clearly, he wasn’t holding Amy Hagerup’s little work.”

I smiled at that. My book is little. The chapters are short. You really can read one chapter in about ten minutes in bed before turning out the light. (You can watch the book trailer here.)

But then he went on.

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Steve spoke of reliving those minutes after the light is switched off. Of emptiness stalking my father-abandoned childhood. Of soldiers invading my bedroom while my toddler looked on. Of mountain cliffs tugging at a donkey carrying me and my baby toward the edge. He noticed that the accounts are not laments but songs — songs about sustaining providence from God.

And then he wrote something that humbled me deeply: that the stories had him worshiping on the spot.

Worship.

That has always been the quiet prayer beneath these pages.

Not that readers would admire the storytelling.
Not that they would be impressed by missionary adventures in Ethiopia or Ghana.
Not that they would be moved by hardships we encountered.

But that they would see God.

Steve Estes has shepherded souls for decades. He has walked through deep suffering with countless families. He coauthored When God Weeps with Joni Eareckson Tada — a book born from profound pain and unshakable faith. For a pastor like that, saying these stories moved him—and even led him to worship— feels like sacred affirmation.

The stories in From Worry to Wonder are not tidy.

They include a little girl wondering why her father left and whether she was worth staying for.
They include danger, uncertainty, culture shock, and moments when I wondered what in the world God was doing.
They include the struggles our children faced and the stretching of my own faith.

But they are not laments.

They are rearview-mirror reflections.

When I lived them, many of those moments felt confusing or frightening. Some felt lonely. Some felt overwhelming. But looking back, I can trace the steady hand of God — protecting, providing, shaping, sustaining.

Providence is often quiet in real time.

It becomes radiant in retrospect.

That is why each chapter ends with Scripture. Not as decoration. Not as a moral tacked on at the end. But because the Word of God was the anchor in those moments — and somehow, after walking through the story, the verses feel deeper, according to what Pastor Steve wrote. They are no longer abstract promises. They are lived ones.

Steve ended his endorsement with this line:

“I have only one complaint . . . her book has too little space between the covers.”

I laughed — and then felt a strange gratitude.

Because if there is “too little space,” it is only because there was so much grace.

So much sustaining mercy.
So many quiet rescues.
So many unseen provisions.

This little book could never hold all of that.

My hope for From Worry to Wonder has always been simple: that as readers revisit my stories, they will begin to relive their own. That they will look back over the “cliffs” and “soldiers” and “abandonments” of their lives and see what they may have missed the first time — the steady, faithful presence of God.

And perhaps, like Steve, they will find themselves worshiping.

Not because of the author.

But because of the Author of every redeemed story. To God be the glory!

Steve Estes shares endorsement