A Travelogue of the Interior

What a great concept for a book. I wish I had thought about this before Karen. In the year 2004 I went through a dry spot in my walk with the Lord and so a friend of mine challenged me to read the Psalms in a month. With each Psalm, I was encouraged to write it out in my own language and style. I did it for a month and it has been a stepping stone for me ever since. Thus, many of my emotions came back again while reading through Karen's journey. I love the Psalms. I love the honesty, the love, and the truth. I loved how Karen weaved David's words into her own words. I was greatly strengthen by this book and I have encouraged my wife to read it for her spiritual walk. I love how she focused on the laments, the raw truth, and the love of God. This was a great book to chew on. Thanks.

Travelogue of the Interior by Karen Dabaghian is a woman's studying of the Psalms and her quest to make them as personal as possible. What started out as a challenge from a man in her church to attend a Psalms class, turned into a year-long soul searching for Karen, a search that revealed her a number of things in her life and aspects of her walk with God that she needed to let go, improve, or pick up.

I personality think that if you are from a mostly conservative Christian background, you will either like the author for the beginning or you won't, at all. If you don't like her from the very beginning, your loss. You will find what she has to say a bit untypical because sometimes the things she says challenge some of the conservative opinions of Christianity. I was curious on her take on the first book of the Psalms and I always love a book that tries to make the Scripture personal.
Sharing just the right amount of background details to help the reader see where she's coming from in relating to a certain Psalm, and through her poems, the author does a very good job in showing that approaching God is always possible, God wants his people to stay and live close to Him, and God is more that a moody deity in the sky.
Warning: this is not a quick read book. You will be challenged, but it's a book that requires you to think its ideas over. It's a recommended read.

I appreciated the lessons I learned in "Travelogue of the Interior” as I have struggled through enhancing my prayer life. This is a debut book written by Karen Dabaghian. What started out as a 12-week class through her church turned into an entire year immersed in the Psalms. By telling readers her story, she encourages us to use the Psalms to help us carry on a real, transparent conversation with God.

Isn’t that what prayer really is, a conversation with God?

“This book is one such instance, a simple telling of what happens when we take the Psalms seriously, peruse their nuances, and labor to sing them back to God?” (Dabaghian)

In her journey, Karen would read one Psalm at a time. She would read it in the context where it was written, often taking her to the biblical books of 1 and 2 Samuel. She would read commentary about a particular Psalm. She’d immerse herself in the emotion of the Psalm. Finally, she’d put pen to paper and pen her own thoughts to God.

“I wrote a lot of bad poetry. I wrote some good poetry. But most importantly, I discovered a place of raw intimacy with God. As it turned out, God wasn’t a literary critic - God just wanted me to talk to Him honestly, no posturing or posing.” (Dabaghian)

Isn’t that what prayer really is, talking with God honestly?

She wove a story of what she had going on in her life personally with what God was teaching her through the Psalms. Thus the term, travelogue. About her friend, Jim, who fought a mighty battle with ALS before Jesus called him home. About her pastor, the Rabbi, who has learned so much in his own journey through the Psalms.

She encourages her readers to take her own journey through the Psalms, warning us in no uncertain terms that the entire process starts with the act of lament. Raw, honest conversation with God. In particular, she helps you get started by providing you reflection questions she labels “Vista.”

“Grab pen and paper, get away from your chores, gadgets, and other people. Just listen. What do you hear? Wind laughing with trees? The ebb and flow of traffic? The metronome tick of a wall clock? Listen to yourself - your feelings, your fidgetings, your doodles. If anything occurs to you, write it down. Practice solitude.” (Dabaghian)

After reading this book I sense deep within me that working my way through the Psalms holds a key to enhancing my prayer life.