In early 2020, author and minister Hudson began collecting her sermons, spanning many years, with a view to creating this volume. She has arrayed them in four parts, from the early and interim years of her preaching experience to the “turning point” referenced in her title, leading to the book’s publication. Each sermon explores human endeavors in the light of God’s oversight. The Old Testament’s Jacob, for example, was a sinner who yet retained spiritual longing and received a vision from God of angels on a ladder reaching from earth to Heaven. Some sermons address specific groups, such as students anticipating a summer break, suggesting that they seek spiritual insight. The subject of women’s barrenness is a powerful, repeated theme, reminding readers that many notable biblical women may not have had children but served the Lord in a multitude of ways. The fifty sermons selected address multi-layered perceptions of the Christian faith using examples from scripture and other resources to offer sensitive, intelligent guidance.

Hudson, an ordained Baptist minister and writer of religious history, offers this rich collection in part as an illustration of how her own deep beliefs have expanded over time and also as a means of reaching an even wider audience of Christian seekers. Her many examples and analogies bring the lofty truths of the Holy Bible to a human scale, inviting the reader to imagine constructing a jigsaw puzzle or facing a catastrophic storm such as Hurricane Katrina. She emphasizes the significant role of women in the lives of such great men as Moses. She draws inspiration too from recollections of her early career as a classroom teacher. Hudson’s assemblage of sermons is well chosen, impressively organized, and can serve as fruit for group discussion and personal contemplation focused on a wide range of Christian themes.

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