- 224 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
This book is not a before-and-after story.
Our culture treats suffering like a problem to fix, a blight to hide, or the sad start of a transformation story. We silently, secretly wither under the pressure of living as though suffering is a predicament we can avoid or annihilate by working hard enough or having enough faith. When your prayers for healing haven't been answered, the fog of depression isn't lifting, your marriage is ending in divorce, or grief won't go away, it's easy to feel you've failed God and, worse, he's failed you. If God loves us, why does he allow us to hurt?
Over a decade ago chronic illness plunged therapist and writer K.J. Ramsey straight into this paradox. Before her illness, faith made sense. But when pain came and never left, K.J. had to find a way across the widening canyon that seemed to separate God's goodness from her excruciating circumstances.
She wanted to conquer suffering. Instead, she encountered the God who chose it. She wanted to make pain past-tense. Instead, God invited her into a bigger story.
This Too Shall Last offers an antidote to our cultural idolatry of effort and ease. Through personal story and insights from neuroscience and theology, Ramsey invites us to let our tears become lenses of the wonder that before God ever rescues us, he stands in solidarity with us. We are all mid-story in circumstances we did not choose, wondering when our hard things will end and where grace will come if they don’t. We don't need to make suffering a before-and-after story. Together we can encounter the grace that enters the middle of our stories, where living with suffering that lingers means receiving God's presence that lasts.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Invitation
- 1. Dissonance: The Clash of Suffering In a Crescendo Culture
- 2. Warring Storylines: Hijacked By Shame, Healed By Solidarity
- 3. Triune Love: You Were Made for Relationship
- 4. Emotion: Present to Pain, Receptive to Grace
- 5. The Cloud: Suffering Is Transformational Space
- 6. Fully Human: Jesus Joined Us On the Floor
- 7. Beautiful Union: Christ’s Life Becomes Our Own
- 8. Personal Presence: The Sacrament of Bearing Witness
- 9. The Communion of Saints: Bearing Witness In Our Worship
- 10. Repentance: All of Life Is an Opportunity for Communion
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author