HOPE WHEN IT HURTS:
Biblical reflections to help you grasp God’s
purposes in your suffering
By Kristen Wetherell and Sarah Walton
The Good Book Company. 250 pages. £11.99
ISBN 978 1 784 980 733
Pretty flowers and a swirly script on the fabric cover, heavy cream pages and a ribbon page marker – Hope When it Hurts looks lovely. It looks like a soft and gentle book for girls. But it isn’t, or at least it isn’t just soft and gentle. It is gutsy and pain-full and cross-centred as well.
Kristen Wetherell and Sarah Walton both have long-term health problems and out of these they have produced a book of 30 very short chapters which tackle suffering from the perspective of 2 Corinthians 4.7-18, that shocking chapter where Paul writes that his ‘light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’ (v.17). The writing is accessible and clear in its emphasis on our future hope and the good that God does in and through us when we suffer. It is honest, too about the dryness, confusion and despair that so often accompany physical pain or hardship. At the end of each section there are points to reflect on and a prayer to pray. While the tone is devotional and personal, there is solid theology to chew on.
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