The God Who Sees by Karen Gonzalez

The God Who Sees by Karen Gonzalez ISBN-13: 9781513804125 Paperback: 232 pages Publisher: Herald Press Released: May 21, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
In The God Who Sees, immigration advocate Karen Gonzalez recounts her family’s migration from the instability of Guatemala to making a new life in Los Angeles and the suburbs of south Florida. In the midst of language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and the tremendous pressure to assimilate, Gonzalez encounters Christ through a campus ministry program and begins to follow him. Here, too, is the sweeping epic of immigrants and refugees in Scripture. Abraham, Hagar, Joseph, Ruth: these intrepid heroes of the faith cross borders and seek refuge. As witnesses to God’s liberating power, they name the God they see at work, and they become grafted onto God’s family tree.

Find resources for welcoming immigrants in your community and speaking out about an outdated immigration system. Find the power of Jesus, a refugee Savior who calls us to become citizens in a country not of this world.


My Review:
The God Who Sees is partly a Bible study, partly a memoir, and partly about immigration policy in the USA. In each chapter, the author first talked about a person in the Bible who was an immigrant: Ruth, Abraham, Hagar, Joseph, the Syrophoenician woman, and Christ. Since the author is an immigrant from Guatemala, she provided insight into what an immigrant faces. She told parts of her own story and stories about other modern immigrants (why they immigrated and what they faced). She talked about USA immigration policies and issues that need to be dealt with and improved. She ended with some reflection and discussion questions about immigration.

Since my sister-in-law is an immigrant from the Philippines (and is now US citizen), I'm aware of just how long, difficult, and expensive it can be for an immigrant to legally come to the USA. I would agree that immigration laws need to be reformed, and I found this book interesting and informative. I appreciate the insights that she provided to the Biblical narratives.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.