Book Review: Have a Little Faith by Lesley Gomez

Book Review: Have a Little Faith: Fixing Broken Childhoods in the Philippines by Lesley Gomez

This book was gifted to me by a friend, and I’m so grateful it was. It is a deeply moving Christian memoir filled with Lesley Gomez’s firsthand experiences serving vulnerable children in the Philippines. I hope my review below encourages you to pick up the book and read it. Not only that inspires you but also that there are genuine stories with genuine compassion, people who put their whole lives into serving and loving others.

The story begins with the Miracle House and continues through the establishment of Victory House. Along the way, Lesley shares the joys, struggles, and challenges of missionary life. She had the privilege of serving alongside Jackie Pullinger, the British Christian missionary best known for her decades of ministry among drug addicts, gang members, and sex workers in Hong Kong. Lesley spent a period serving with Jackie and even attended her wedding. Although that experience shaped her greatly, her heart was ultimately drawn to the children and teenagers of the Philippines, those who were abandoned, broken, abused, and living on the streets with little hope for the future.

What touched me most was that Lesley never presents herself as someone who came to “fix” these children. Instead, through Victory House, she simply pointed them to a God who loves them unconditionally. That message of grace shines throughout the entire book.

If you’re expecting page after page of dramatic miracles, this isn’t that kind of book. Instead, Lesley invites readers into her own heart. She honestly shares her struggles, her prayers, her disappointments, and the questions she wrestled with while trying to understand God’s plans. She prayed fervently for people who still passed away, and through those painful experiences she came to trust that God is sovereign, even when His answers are difficult to understand. Her faith is authentic because it was tested through suffering, not just success.

The book introduces many children and teenagers by name, and at times it can be challenging to keep track of everyone. However, whenever a particular story is especially significant, Lesley draws your attention back to that person and helps you follow their journey.

This Christian biography and missionary memoir offers a fresh perspective on faith, compassion, and what it truly means to serve others. As I reached the second half of the book, I found it almost impossible to put down. Several stories made my hair stand on end, while others brought tears to my eyes. Knowing these were real people and true events, not fictional characters—made every chapter even more powerful. Each morning I looked forward to picking the book up again, and during my train rides I read nonstop, eager to discover what would happen next and how God would continue working through Lesley’s life.

Lesley also shares her personal journey as a wife and mother. She married a Filipino man named Peter, and together they have three children. Woven throughout the story are the joys and pains of family life alongside the challenges of missionary work. The ministry eventually grew to include Victory House, a place of hope and safety for vulnerable children and teenagers up to eighteen years old.

Have a Little Faith is not simply a book about missions; it is a story of faith, perseverance, obedience, and trusting God through both heartbreak and hope. It is a reminder that changing lives often begins not with extraordinary miracles, but with ordinary people who faithfully say “yes” to God, one child at a time.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Christian missions, biographies, or stories that reveal God’s faithfulness through real-life struggles. It challenged, encouraged, and inspired me, and I am thankful I had the opportunity to read it.

You can obtain a copy in any major bookshop in store or online.

If you read the book let me know what do you think about it.

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Dariush Y