My Life and Lesser Catastrophes -- A Review

What do you say to someone who’s been hit by tragedy? How do you respond when their heartfelt plea is “God, what have I done wrong? Do you like me? Was I wrong about You? But even if You don’t like me, I’ll still love You and serve You.” (paraphrased) Often, when there’s nothing we know to say, some turn “Bibley” on the one hurting. Somehow it’s ingrained in us that we need to say something—anything. Some of us will even send books on faith, suffering, and God’s blessing with the encouragement, “Read this, it really helped me and I thought of you.”

Honestly? I have found it difficult to find a book that offers a candid look at faith and healing versus wholeness, so when offered the opportunity to review Christina Schofield’s book, My Life and Lesser Catastrophes, I found the tagline, “An unflinchingly honest journey of faith” to be true.

Having careers and plans for the future, Christina and her husband Allen led a “charmed” life. God never failed to smile on their lives, even with the birth of their little girl, Lily. Then came the morning, while out for a little joyride before Allen had to get to the office, that the bike hit loose gravel left behind by a road crew, and flipped sending the couple sailing through the air. Little did they expect that one ride would forever change their lives. Suddenly, career and all the “necessities” of life vanished and their attentions revolved around Allen, whose injuries left him a quadraplegic.

Through this book, Christina speaks as a friend—honestly, at times humorously—while sharing her struggle to cling to her faith, step into shoes she openly says, “isn’t in her realm of expertise” and learns of God’s faithfulness through the dark days. As a woman whose husband is disables, I could relate in so many ways to her questions and revelations. I could imagine other struggles she and Allen must have faced that weren’t mentioned.

I found this book easy to read, difficult to put down, and a temptation to skip forward for that “happy ending” that so often waiting for us on the final pages. With each step forward in the faith for his healing, I wondered whether she’d take us to the miracle everyone anticipated. Every turn of the page either made me chuckle, cry, or say, “Hmm . . . I’ve never thought of it that way before.”

You won’t hear from me how the book ends. That, you’ll have to find out yourself; purchase the book. I will tell you, though, it’s worth the read. My faith was stirred. My heart was renewed. And God is magnified throughout.

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Find your copy at Amazon, Christian Book, or Bethany House Publishers.

Thanking God everyday for you.

Anna K. Jeffrey
Writer/Editor

Sufficient Grace Writing & Editing Services
southpawscribbler@gmail.com

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