Finding Purpose Beyond Our Pain is not a book about physical pain, but rather the emotional pain that we all suffer at some stage in our lives. The authors – Drs. Paul Meier and David Henderson – take what they refer to as life’s inevitables, and show how by examining and learning from God’s word we can actually see beyond our pain and increase in our faith and our understanding of God’s plan for us.
Each of these seven ‘inevitables’ – injustice, rejection, loneliness, loss, discipline, failure and death – is afforded its own section, which in turn is divided into four chapters offering guidance and support based both on scripture and anecdotal stories gleaned from the experiences of treating their own patients. The reader is invited to not necessarily read the book from start to finish but rather to start with the chapter or chapters that cover the particular pain they are encountering at the time.
Having read the book twice now from cover to cover I must admit to feeling a sense of disappointment. Like a lot of people I have suffered from more than one of the ‘inevitables’ on occasions during my life and have read a number of books and undergone counseling to help me deal with the pain, and I was hoping to find something new in this book that might provide some fresh insight. Unfortunately I didn’t.
That’s not to say it’s a bad book, far from it. If you are suffering from one of these pains and looking for Biblical answers to help you in your struggles you will certainly find them in this book. However if you’re looking for some new unique revelation I am sorry to say you will not find it within the pages of this book.
Disclosure – I am a member of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program and was provided with a free copy of the book for review purposes.
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