by Paul Meier M.D. and David Livingstone Henderson M.D.
The title of this book pretty much sums up it’s theme: finding purpose beyond our pain. It is impossible to live a life completely free of pain. Rather than trying to avoid pain, we need to realise that pain is not the enemy and can actually be our ally. Drs Meier and Henderson explore seven universal struggles:
- injustice
- rejection
- loneliness
- loss
- discipline
- failure
- death
I found the inclusion of discipline in this list quite odd; I wouldn’t classify discipline as a “struggle”. Apart from that, I think the list is fairly complete and will be relevant to most readers. They identify 3 main things that prevent us from seeing beyond our current difficulties: focusing on our circumstances rather than on God; fear, and; forgetting what God has done in the past.
With plenty of biblical and contemporary examples to illustrate how we can grow through our pain to achieve the purpose behind it, this book is well written and easy to read. I would recommend this to anyone who is struggling to understand why God allows dark times in our lives.
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by Max Lucado.
Why does God allow tragedy? Can God bring good from incomprehensible loss? How should we pray during times of great suffering? These are the type of questions Lucado tries to answer in 80 smalla pages.
The power of prayer … does not depend on the one who makes the prayer but on the one who hears the prayer.
The primary theme of this book is simply: God is sovereign and He loves you. It has never taken me this long to read so few words. Don’t get me wrong; the langage used in this book is simple. Short, punchy sentences maintain a rapid pace, and carries you along each page so rapidly, you could almost fail to notice how little substance there actually is. Almost.
Part of me enjoyed reading each chapter, but another part could not help but see this book as a waste of time. That part of me made it almost impossible to finish reading it, as short as it is. There are certainly some gems to be found, and I agree with the central message. I’m sure that many people will find this book encouraging and enjoyable. However, I doubt that those who are really suffering, those who are in terrible pain, in deed, those whom this book is ostensibly aimed at, will find much comfort here.
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