Jia Apple’s Oft Made to Wonder is not for the faint-of-heart reader. Dozens of memoirs have been written which transpose into the key of “nice,” that end up declaring, “and they all lived happily ever after.” I avoid those memoirs. I prefer the “Oh my God!!!” memoir. As I read, I thought Jia Apple was holding up a mirror and saying, “Look at your own family narrative” especially for those who grew up among the holiness. I, too, have been “oft made to wonder” who I would be had I not grown up in a “holiness” tradition. Reading about Jia’s parents, family and church stirred raw memories along the corridors of my soul. Jia Apple is a survivor extraordinaire! Others—too many others---have not survived such a childhood and adolescence. Oft Made to Wonder is not a one-read memoir. Rereading it, in order to write this endorsement, although knowing what was coming on the next page, in the next chapter, still ambushed me. Am I glad I read Oft Made to Wonder? I am. Jia’s writing is a witness, much needed, asserting that one can survive the unimaginable, the indefensible. God—the real God---devises ways to bring the wounded home to his heart. Jia’s honesty and diligence in confronting memories and wrestling words and memories onto pages, is what someone---many someones—need to read today. Jia’s courageous hope captured on these pages will touch lives beyond her knowledge.

Harold Ivan Smith, DMIN, FT 21 November 2017
Olathe, Kansas