Title: You Don’t Have to Move the Washer to Make Toast: Reflections
Author: Susan A. Rader
Publisher: Toplink Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1949169454
Pages: 314
Genre: Autobiography
Reviewed by: Lisa Brown-Gilbert

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Gifting readers with a work teaming with both inspiration and insight, Susan A. Rader’s autobiographical You Don’t Have to Move the Washer to Make Toast, succeeds in skillfully memorializing her personal journey to spiritual growth and enduring faith.

Author Rader expresses her story in a style which makes for a comfortable read. Within her narrative, she shares experiences, engaging the attention with expressive first hand testimony of her life’s spiritual path. Within the book, she familiarizes readers with her background, by presenting her life through a collection of anecdotal narratives. She candidly explores the experiences of her existences, both pre-Christian life and Christian living. In particular, she revisits her inspirations, fears, doubts and lifestyle by delving into her formative years growing up within a dysfunctional family dynamic. She writes about suffering sexual abuse, witnessing cruelty, hurting from unanswered prayers, and later almost dying several times – including during service in the military, which thereafter her living a life, painfully disabled. Consequently, kept her questioning God, and later left open to having little faith in herself or God.

However, her story encourages the spirit once she finally accepts God, owns her faith, and essentially starts life reborn. As a result, along with her newly strengthened faith and relationship with God, she found herself drawing the things she wanted in her life but, thought was not possible for her; love, a husband, children, resilience, patience, as well as a spiritual gift. Without exception, her faith helped her to endure the challenges of life, especially when it came to facing loss and her health.

Definitively, I was drawn in and fascinated by You Don’t Have to Move the Washer to Make Toast, and I applaud author Susan A. Rader for her effort It turned out to be a sincere and humble read which I found affecting me and appreciably easy to connect with. She shared an honest view of her life, straightforward and unflinching, willing to opening the doors to her most intimate, painful, challenging and triumphant experiences of her life. Although there were many great moments in Susan’s history, one event in which I found to be particularly touching, as well as triumphant is the story of her young 6th grade aged daughter choosing to give her life to God. I also found her experiences with guardian angels, miracles and prophetic dreams to be very intriguing. Additionally, other likable aspects of the book includes the addition of family pictures which added a great personal touch, as well as an included segment written by David W. Rader, the author’s husband that deeply touches the spirit. Overall, I found that this was a faith inspiring autobiography to read, and I do recommend it.