One of my hesitations with books in the genre of “Read this when your life is falling apart; I was in the same place, and this is how everything miraculously got better”, is that I find them to be discouraging while you’re actually in the middle of a life crisis of your own. I don’t want to hear about the lessons you learned when life turned around, because what if my story doesn’t end that way. If there’s no end to the pain that I’m feeling, if there’s no miracle to change my circumstances, your lessons and celebrations don’t apply…and i’m just left frustrated and wanting to punch the author.
This is why I loved this book.
TerKeurst has made a bit of a name for herself in the niche market of Christian women, with several non-fiction, spiritual books under her belt. As her last book was being published (Uninvited – which was also great, and I’d recommend), she found out that her husband had cheated on her, and she watched her marriage crumble.
Instead of waiting for that situation to resolve & healing to take place, and THEN write a book about it, she wrote it in the middle of the heartbreak, confusion, and pain. As someone who has grown up in the church, and has been immersed in Christian culture for my entire life, I found it really refreshing to hear someone talk honestly about a difficult situation without trying to put a happy face on it. Yes, this is still an unapologetically Christian book, but it’s a candid one as she wrestles real-time with questions about how God could let this happen, why she has to go through something so painful, etc. It was honest and real, and while there is an epilogue to explain where things are at with her relationship with her husband, it’s clear during the book that she doesn’t know how their story will end. It was refreshing, hopeful, honest, and heartbreaking.