A Beautiful Disaster: Finding Hope in the Midst of Brokenness
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A Beautiful Disaster: Finding Hope in the Midst of Brokenness

A Beautiful Disaster: Finding Hope in the Midst of Brokenness

Overview

Interweaving biblical insights and personal narratives, this eloquently written book shows how God often uses suffering and desert experiences to form us into Christ's image. Marlena Graves shares her experiences of growing up poor in a house plagued by mental illness as a means to explore the forces God uses to shape us into beautiful people in the midst of brokenness.

This book offers a window into suffering through the motif of desert spirituality, revealing how God can use our painful experiences to show himself faithful. While no one welcomes suffering, God often uses desert experiences—those we initially despise and wouldn't wish on anyone—to transform us into beautiful souls who better resemble Jesus. Graves shows how God can bring life out of circumstances reeking of death and destruction, whether those circumstances are crises or daily doses of quiet desperation.

Readers who have experienced suffering and question God's purpose for it will benefit from this book, as will counselors, pastors, professors, and mentors. It includes a foreword by John Ortberg and Laura Ortberg Turner.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

05/12/2014
A writer for Christianity Today’s Her Meneutics blog, Graves ponders suffering and how God uses it to shape lives. She offers thoughts on times in the desert and how those times of solitude can produce an oasis that gives people of faith better self-understanding and a closer relationship with God. She clings to God during her trials, even from a very early age, when her drunken father made for an unstable childhood, and draws strength from the practice whenever she finds herself in stressful times. She suggests in this two-part exposition (the book is separated into “This Wilderness Life” and “Wilderness Gifts”) that Christians should do the same when encountering brokenness and worry over things like finances, moving to a new town, waiting for test results or any time awaiting an answer in what feels like silence. More details about how she was able to put faith first, as well as more stories from people with broader life experience, might have made her case more persuasively. Her reflections need ripening. (June)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781587433412
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Publication date: 06/17/2014
Pages: 220
Sales rank: 1,049,975
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

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