I first became aware of Heaven Without Her: A Desperate Daughter’s Search for the Heart of Her Mother’s Faith by Kitty Foth-Regner when Sherri reviewed it here. I commented that I was putting the book on my TBR list, and the author graciously contacted me and offered to send me both this book and another of hers, The Song of Sadie Sparrow.
This book is part memoir, part apologetics. Kitty grew up with a loving Christian mother, but she rejected the gospel. She felt God wasn’t real and Christianity would just get between her and her idea of fun. She became a feminist and an agnostic, developed a good writing business, had lots of like-minded friends and a significant other. Life seemed good.
Then her aging mother became sick and was not expected to live. Kitty couldn’t bear the thought that she might not see her mother ever again. To Kitty’s credit, she didn’t just mouth a false profession. She couldn’t agree to Christianity if she didn’t believe it was true. But she was willing to investigate it. So she dug, read, and studied not only Christianity but also other religions from every conceivable angle, such as the existence of God, creation vs. evolution, the veracity of the Bible, and more.
The book tells how she got “so lost” in the first place and how, point by point, God dealt with all her objections and brought her to Himself.
A few quotes:
The most dangerous lies are those that contain a healthy dose of truth.
It didn’t take me long to make the most important aspect of radical feminism my own–all the me-centered principle that made my ambitions, my feelings, my intellect, and my freedom my number one priorities.
It was time to quit wondering and take some action.
Later, I would read in Philippians 4 about “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.” It was like that: peace that I hadn’t felt since I was a little kid, before I knew the heartbreaks and fears and humiliations that can happen in this world. The sort of peace you feel when you know someone much bigger than you is in total control, loves you to pieces, and will take care of you always.
My friendship with several hyper-feminists were among the casualties of my conversion. Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut. But I figured that a friend doesn’t let a friend live without hope; a friend shares the gospel.
Kitty ends the book with a list of recommending resources for anyone wanting to research the same questions and concerns that she did.
I’ve heard people criticize creation and apologetic ministries because they are not the gospel, and it’s only the gospel which “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16, ESV). That’s true, but the seed of the gospel is the Word of God, according to the parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-15), and apologetics ministries pull out some weeds and rocks in the soil of people’s hearts and minds so the seed can better take root.
I’m thankful for Kitty’s sharing her testimony and the truths she learned in her book, and I can highly recommend it.
(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books, Literary Musing Monday, Carole’s Books You Loved)
Stray Thoughts 
Thank you for sharing this, Barbara. It was encouraging!
This sounds like a great book.
That sounds really interesting. Sometimes I’ll think about people we know who won’t be in heaven (probably — I know God is the final judge). It’s so sad that I can’t stand to do it much. But try as we might, we can’t make decisions for others 😦
Oh, I am glad that you shared Kitty’s book here! I am in the middle of reading it now too, and am so enjoying her personal views and her research on apologetics. I agree with you that is so helpful to have these resources that back-up the Scriptures we hold onto. His Word to us is living and active, and He truly does make it come alive in and for us.
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