Saturday, November 20, 2010

Don't Waste the Pain, David Lyons & Linda Lyons-Richardson

Strap in for a emotional and spiritual ride as you are invited into the personal journeys of pain and discovery of a brother and sister and their respective families.

This book arrived on my doorstep 7 days after burying my youngest son, Caleb Levi born at 4 months. It truly was a poignant, heart-rending book. At times I felt as though a vice-clamp was around my heart and I could not breathe as I recognized the raw emotions of the pain they felt and the peace that followed at crying out to Christ. I can certainly relate to the heartbreaking prayers of a mother and the soul shattering ache when I lost my son. Though spiritual sight supersedes physical and offers a more beautiful picture - letting go of a child after endless prayers for a miracle is a terrible lonely pain. How wonderful to know that God is in control and though the physical hurts - there is peace in knowing where our loved ones go and beauty in the knowledge of the presence of grace in our lives. I barely could read the letter that they read upon having to meet with physicians about removing life-support as it so closely resembled one of my last prayers for Caleb - "Father he was yours from the beginning of time, never mine, I surrender my life to your plan, and his life to you. You are the sustainer - the one who gives and takes away - I only ask Lord that you strengthen me, comfort me, and whisper words of love to me because I know Lord if he goes to be with you that my heart will shatter and my soul will ache, and my arms will long to hold him - Prepare me for your will, Lord that you may be glorified..."

I can not begin to imagine the struggle of Linda, but I appreciate the openness and rawness of her emotions. She holds nothing back from the reader as she generously opens her personal journals. The reader is invited into the war zone - to see first hand the battle of truth and the enemy as she struggles to stay focused on Christ and His provision and divine purpose for her life. This battle is truly a battle each christian must face though the attack of the enemy is very different for each of and each of us has a different battle field: for some it is health, others family or financial, but the battle is the same. A battle for what we will hold as truth -will we allow our suffering to strengthen our faith and make our lives more beautiful through the storm or will we surrender the victory and accept defeat in the form of depression, loss, despair, and desperation of lost hope.

This book shows in clearness that God refines us into something more beautiful so that emerging from the storm, walking in the shadow of death, or climbing/descending a treacherous rocky mountainside we can give glory to the one who gives and takes away, who sustains us, and who says "Do Not Fear for I am able to deliver you, and to show you things that you have not known."

If you know someone going through a trial, or someone emerging from a storm, someone in great suffering of heart this is an excellent book of the affirmation of God's grace and mercy toward his children.

Thank you, David and Linda for allowing us to see God's work in your lives.

Thank you NavPress for this review copy.

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