McIntyre’s book The Word on My Heart is Yes: Reflections from a Modern-Day Missionary is a simple 31-day devotional reading from a female missionary’s perspective. Serving as a missionary in South Asia for many years provides McIntyre with a unique perspective and understanding of how God speaks to her through mundane daily tasks and experiences. For each of the 31-day devotions in the book, McIntyre starts with a Bible verse and then tells a story from her missionary experience that relates to that verse. The story serves as a teaching moment that explains that day’s scripture. She concludes with a prayer based on the verse as well as a question that enables readers to reflect on applications for their own lives.

One strength of the book is that McIntyre is a great storyteller. In an engaging and readable way, she conveys the ways she hears God speaking to her throughout her everyday normal life as a missionary on the field. Thus, when reading through the book, readers are drawn into the stories in a way that connects very well with one’s own life: From longing for a certain box of cereal that cannot be found on the field to seeing new believers come to faith in Christ during Easter… I found myself often getting emotional as I read. As a female missionary myself, many of McIntyre’s stories are quite relevant to me and speak to the longing, frustration, and rejoicing in my life.

Second, McIntyre uses her stories to show God’s love toward His people and to show His sovereignty over all things. God was in control when her family was detoured through an unknown rural village because of a roadblock caused by a bomb. God’s presence calmed her while dealing with vehicle trouble with local police. God’s Spirit moved hearts when she and her husband shared the good news of Jesus with hundreds of people in a village, including a demon-possessed man. These devotionals can be a great encouragement and inspiration to missionaries all over the world.

A third strength is that the short prayer and reflection question at the end of each day’s reading leads readers to apply the lessons in a deeper way. These questions serve as a quick way for readers to connect their reading to their own spiritual journeys.

Finally, each day’s devotion is very short, easy to read, and only takes about five minutes each day. It is a very convenient and low-pressure reading for busy missionaries on the field. Of course, if someone wants a deeper study, they can also take the reflection question at the end and dig deeper on their own or with a group of friends.

While the book has many strengths, one weakness of the book is that it lacks logical connection between each day’s reading. The topics of each day are quite randomly arranged, and there seems to be no connection between each day’s reading. You can start with Day 1 or Day 19; it will make no difference. It took me quite a few days of reading to get used to this arrangement. A more logical arrangement of the entries or separating the topics into different themes will make the flow of the book easier to follow.

The Word on My Heart is Yes is a great resource for personal devotional reading. It is a relevant and inspirational reading for missionaries around the world but especially for female missionaries serving in difficult locations where they may be isolated or lonely and need to be encouraged by stories of God’s faithfulness displayed in the life of a friend. These missionary stories combined with Scriptural teaching will give readers a healthy perspective of how to live out their life as followers of Christ while being missionaries on the field.