Beyond the Jordan
Dry Places, Misunderstood Peoples,
and Imperfect Attempts at Prayer
“A tapestry, beautifully woven....an ode to faith and to the kinship we find in the places that call us home.”
“I have been waiting for this book...Heather Surls illuminates in lyrical prose the mandates of modern life while embedding them in this ancient land.”
Beyond the Jordan is a memoir-in-essays based on a decade of life in Jordan and Israel-Palestine. Through a variety of nonfiction styles, Heather leads readers on spiritually sensitive journeys through the region, listening to its peoples and exploring its customs—and directly encountering dozens of Jordanian, Palestinian, Syrian, and Iraqi women.
Though much of Beyond the Jordan looks outward with joyful curiosity, many chapters turn inward as well, wrestling with grim realities of poverty, displaced people, and suffering. Through it all, Heather traces how the Middle East has shaped her spiritual landscape.
In a time when terror and war dominate conversations about the Middle East, Beyond the Jordan reminds readers that Arabs are not just numbers, but resilient, generous people created in God’s image. Through her vulnerable storytelling, Heather invites readers to seek glimpses of God in unexpected places and to press into his majesty and mystery in their personal deserts.
“All who love the lands of the Bible and wonder how the prophecies of old will ever come true are invited to sit with Heather and listen and learn and pray and wait for bitter waters to turn sweet. Beyond the Jordan is a spiritual memoir, a journalistic adventure, a love letter to the Middle East, a tribute to resilience, and a prophetic invitation to nurture hope.”
“Heather Surls captures the complexity, beauty, loss, and delight inherent in the deeply explored expatriate experience. Her writing is evocative, rich with the smells, sounds, flavors, and sights of the Middle East she came to love.”