Good Grief: A Fresh Review of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses
Note: Melinda Lancaster posted the following review of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses at her site Thinking Out Loud on Purpose.
Excerpt: “Upon receiving God’s Healing for Life’s Losses, my plan was to: read it, do a short review, and move on. God had another plan. The book “read me” and as a result exposed my misconceptions concerning God and grief. It also caused me to review, at length, my relationship with God. Taking me on an unexpected path towards healing God’s Healing for Life’s Losses has become a real game-changer. It has continued to work in my life long after I put it down.”
Full Review: Good Grief
Losses—we all experience them along with the accompanying pain. They penetrate our lives in various forms and magnitudes with little or no warning. Some are short-lived while others lead to long seasons of suffering and grief.
Suffering and grief are something we are all familiar with. Yet, these two words are NOT typically “hot topics” in most Christian circles. As a matter-of-fact they are infrequently dealt with. I find that somewhat astonishing given the fact that 1,185 of the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, in some way, touch on the subject of suffering or death.
It is also confounding to see, with so much of Scripture dedicated to the subject, how frantically we search for ways to quickly dismiss grief. Whether we downplay our pain with positive platitudes or frantically numb it with a frenzy of activities the issue remains the same. We need a framework or “theology of suffering” to deal with our pain if we are to experience God’s healing. Many believers do not have one.
A Biblical Primer
In his latest book, God’s Healing for Life’s Losses, Dr. Robert Kellemen has penned a primer for sufferology that allows for such a framework to be constructed. While walking with the reader down the path of grief, which Kellemen is deeply and personally acquainted with, he offers something that has been sadly lacking–a Biblical approach that goes far beyond the traditional model. By going “the way of the Word”, instead of the way of the world, this small but power-packed book gives the readers permission to grieve freely, in a biblical manner, while providing the necessary tools.
I was not at all surprised by the author’s ability to bring spiritual light to this subject but I must say that I was amazed by the masterful way in which he so carefully and compassionately unpacked the eight biblical steps or markers on the road to healing. With the precision of a surgeon he cuts to the “heart of the matter” removing infected notions and cancerous beliefs so that real healing can occur.
The Book “Read Me”
How do I know this? I experienced it personally. I must say, that I was not prepared for the impact that God’s Healing for Life’s Losses would have on my life. No stranger to loss, over the past few years, I’ve encountered grief of my own. I thought that I was handling it when in fact I was hiding from it. That is until the opportunity to review my friend’s book came along.
Upon receiving it, my plan was to: read it, do a short review, and move on. God had another plan. The book “read me” and as a result exposed my misconceptions concerning God and grief. It also caused me to review, at length, my relationship with God. Taking me on an unexpected path towards healing God’s Healing for Life’s Losses has become a real game-changer. It has continued to work in my life long after I put it down.
Handling Grief Biblically
Having studied the subjects of suffering, grief, and loss over the years I’ve read countless books by an array of Christian writers and God’s Healing for Life’s Losses has surpassed them all. It is by far the most condensed and concise book on handling grief in a biblical manner that I’ve ever read. In my opinion it is also the most helpful.
I look forward to using it as a ministry tool and highly recommend it as a gift to all who are experiencing a loss of any kind. There is no way to adequately convey how much spiritual help is packed inside, but if you read it I believe that you too will be amazed!
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