Sally Read converted from atheism to Catholicism when her daughter, Flo, was only four years old, but it did not take long for the child to become aware that many friends and relatives did not share her mother's newfound faith. This consciousness of "two worlds" led to a great many doubts in Flo, and some rebellion. Two nights before her First Communion she suddenly questioned whether she should receive the Eucharist.

Sensing the precarious nature of faith in an overwhelmingly secular world, Read began writing down the reasons for holding on to both God and Church. Taking the Annunciation as her template, she explored common experiences of the spiritual life as she meditated on each part of the story recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Drawing on Scripture, the saints, and the lives of people, Read shows how God is with us always—even in suffering, spiritual dryness, and depression.