As a thirty-seven-year-old, highly skeptical, deeply rational woman, Joan had it all: loving family, extravagant home, a high-profile career, even personal contentment. So Joan was more surprised than anyone when she was relieved in an instant from the luxury of spiritual doubt and compelled to realign her life around practices of faith--about which she was a novice. With an unexplainable desire to pursue whatever God had for her at whatever cost was called for, Joan left her high-salary profession, sold her home and all her furniture (with her husband’s support), and started life from a blank slate. Finally realizing that she had been flirting with faith since she was a young teen, Joan fell in love with the God who had been pursuing her.
Joan candidly shares the story of her radical life change as she moved from atheist, to agnostic in addiction recovery, to the unexpected moment when she was “struck” Christian. As Joan lets go of control and convention, her skepticism is gradually replaced with a realization that embracing her new faith with radical abandon led to a far more mysterious and countercultural lifestyle than she’d ever imagined.
“I love authors with attitude—that's why Anne Lamott is high on my favorites list. Now even higher is the new voice of Joan Ball. Her splendor of rendering life in the spirit is unmatched. Open this book up anywhere, and it grabs you everywhere.”
“If you didn't know better, you would mistake Flirting with Faith for a work of fiction. Even Joan Ball wouldn’t have believed the story—successful New York publicist gets blindsided by a supernatural smack down—had it not happened to her. But every part of Joan’s faith journey reeks of authenticity. And it’s not just the story of Flirting with Faith that will keep you turning the pages. Joan’s voice is one of the most original to come along in years. She’s bold and brash and filled with a kind of wide-eyed wonder that could only come from someone who has been “struck Christian.”
"In Flirting with Faith Joan Ball reveals the scarred soul of an avowed atheist who found herself unexpectedly god-smacked. Fellow spiritual oddballs will delight in the discovery that while they may be unique they're not alone. Though Ball's story, they can find another broken believer who walked a crooked spiritual path that eventually wound its way to God."
“In a culture where far too many people are dismissive or completely indifferent when it comes to faith, it's refreshing to see it dealt with in such an honest and authentic fashion. Flirting with Faith is a roadmap on the often perilous and sometime exhilarating journey to discover eternity. Joan Ball reminds us that encountering real faith will change everything.”
