When the reality of your pain doesn't line up with what you've been taught in church, then what? While many abandon their faith or embrace hopelessness, it is possible to discover the God who heals your heart in the midst of the pain.
Matt Bays has been where you are. His unforgettable stories of loss and healing will usher you into a life where gratitude overpowers anger, hope overcomes despair, and hunger for God replaces indifference to God. With a fresh and original writing style, Bays demonstrates that true redemption is far more powerful than the temporary fixes of sanitized Christianity.
Matt Bays is a writer, speaker, and musician with a passion to call people out of their hiding places. In ministry for twenty years, he and his wife, Heather, live in Indianapolis with their fun-loving and insightful teenage daughters.
MY REVIEW:
This book is written from the author's heart and he doesn't hold back or mask his life. It's an open, honest laying bare his life and his feelings about that life.
Matt's childhood was definitely one of the most difficult childhoods I've ever heard about. He was abused in ways that make you cringe and break your heart. It all starts to catch up with him and he knows he must deal with it and get counseling. This is after he has been a pastor for a number of years and has been wearing a mask that all is well.
Matt says many of the things that so many of us feel when we are experiencing pain or are living with the aftermath of that pain. He turns from God and questions why He would allow these things to happen and then comes full circle to realize that he can't live his life without God.
While this book is really great in so many ways, Matt does say some things that make me uneasy. For instance, he quotes Psalm 44 and says that David is thinking ill of God. While David is questioning why God is allowing these things to happen, I do not believe that David is actually thinking ill thoughts towards God. He also says, "When the God of your church origin gives you the remedial cliche for your pain time and time again, there's not a thing wrong with sticking your middle finger right in his face." Really?! God is still GOD! This isn't something I would do to another person, let alone the Lord. This is the perfect example of what is wrong with many American Christians today. We want to bring God down to our level and there is a loss of reverence for the Creator of us all. This is not the only thing he shares that makes me shake my head.
This book is definitely from the heart and written with an open heart. I did get a lot from the book but caution the reader to be aware and to be discerning when reading the book. This book has gotten a lot of press and sometimes people tend to overlook the questionable things and just accept it without question because of the hype. As I said, be discerning.
I still think it's a book that can help us in the healing of our broken places and to help us understand that God's ways are not our ways but that He fully loves us. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
*This book was provided to me for my honest review by LitFuse Publicity Group
Blessings - Julie
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