Adult non-fiction, Book Reviews, RP App

Sincerely, Stoneheart

by Emily Wilson Hussem 2025 / 240 pages I can’t find my car keys! Can you relate to this panicked searching? If you don’t find your keys, you’ll be late for your appointment. Your kids are screaming at the door and you feel your self-control slipping as you flip pockets inside out and tear cushions off the couch. All the while, your keys are in your back pocket. In her book, Sincerely, Stoneheart, Emily Wilson Hussem relates this missing key experience to how many Christian women live: frantically searching for their identity, forgetting that God calls them his beloved. Hussem writes in the same flavour as CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters – letters written fictitiously from a senior demon, named Stoneheart, to his apprentice Belphegora (a demon of sloth, distraction and false promises of wealth). The letters are about how best to lure a female subject living in today’s world away from the Enemy. Reading from this angle takes some mental alertness. For believers, “the Enemy” is their Heavenly Father. This and other positive vocabulary need to be flipped, as the believing reader digests the temptations communicated by the demon. However, this mental exercise helps one examine one’s heart. These letters illuminate where you may be giving the Devil a foothold. As the book’s subtitle reads, Sincerely, Stoneheart helps readers “unmask the enemy’s lies,” and, “find the truth that sets you free.” Hussem covers over 40 topics including: appearances, possessions, accomplishments and titles. One I found convicting was her noting that a woman scrolling through social media on her phone was in a remarkably similar posture to a child of God praying. How many times have I turned to my phone to answer a question or fill a heart longing, instead of sincerely praying to my Creator with folded hands? The topics covered best relate to an educated Christian wife and mother of young children but would apply in part to Christian women at large. The author’s heart is for women to embrace God’s unique gift of femininity and to have hearts at rest in their identity of being God’s beloved. By abiding in this relationship with God, through prayer and scripture reading, women can find healing for their past hurts, live abundantly in the present, and entrust their future to Him. This book is easy to read in small chunks and even out of order, making it approachable to moms familiar with interruptions. A study guide is also available. It could be used for personal reflection or a group study. It would also be helpful to husbands, fathers, pastors and elders who desire to understand the spiritual warfare many young woman face. Use this book to help you pray Ezekiel 36:26:

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”