Recommended Reading
Hope is found when people come together to help one another through difficult and disabling circumstances. If you or someone you know is raising a child with special needs, is living with a terminal condition, or is enduring unbearable pain, resources are available to carry you through these difficult times and to offer you hope. Insight for Living recommends the following resources as support for those who are encountering life’s unbearable burdens.


The Weathering Grace of God: The Beauty God Brings from Life’s Upheavals
by Ken Gire

Like natural disasters, personal calamities are overwhelming. Those unexpected accidents and events that sweep though life often remove the people and resources which give consistency and structure to life. Time is needed for the earth to recover from a natural disaster just like time is needed for people to heal from a personal trial. Ken Gire examines some of earth’s magnificent locations which were born from natural disasters, breathing fresh hope to those who face difficult and disabling challenges.


When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty
by Joni Eareckson Tada and Steven Estes

Often times, we ask “Why?” to those things in life that are painful or challenging. However, the central question may not be “Why?” but “For what purpose?” With eloquence and grace, Joni Eareckson Tada illuminates God’s sovereign and personal purpose in our lives when things have happened that we don’t understand.


Your God Is Too Small: A Guide for Believers and Skeptics Alike
by J. B. Phillips

Some problems appear too big or too difficult to walk through, that is, if we believe God is limited in character or wisdom. However, the size and shape of life’s challenges mean nothing when our faith is secured by God who is unlimited in power, knowledge, and ability. J. B. Phillips outlines a few of the confinements we attempt to place around God that lead to despair. He also directs us to see God’s true nature, which gives us hope regardless of the size of any life challenge.


The Gift of Pain: Why We Hurt and What We Can Do About It
by Philip Yancey and Dr. Paul Brand

Have you ever wondered what a life without pain would be like? While that sounds ideal, life without pain is terribly tragic. Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey help us understand the physical significance of feeling pain, thus offering a perspective of God’s severe mercy due to the presence of pain in our lives.


The Grief Club: The Secret to Getting Through All Kinds of Change
by Melody Beattie

Most people are a part of different clubs through life. We join neighborhood clubs, fitness clubs, church, and community clubs comprised of people with similar interests. However, no one chooses what Melody Beattie calls “The Grief Club,” comprised of people connected by life’s unexpected losses or hardships. Known for her candid authenticity, Beattie shares her personal experiences with death, divorce, and drug addiction—illustrating that life transformation begins when we choose to participate with others joined together by life’s inevitable difficulties.


A Grief Observed
by C. S. Lewis

The late, highly respected, prolific author named Clive Staples Lewis continues to be respected for his religious, philosophical, and academic works. Additionally, the young and old alike have enjoyed Lewis’s imaginary world for children titled The Chronicles of Narnia. But few are aware that his heart was broken with sorrow following his wife’s death. Filled with honest anguish and spiritual doubt, A Grief Observed offers comfort and acceptance to any soul struggling to find God in the midst of human suffering.


Experiencing Grief
by H. Norman Wright

Having loved and lost a son who was severely disabled, Dr. Norman Wright unveils the painful yet essential healing process of grief. Dr. Wright helps us understand the complexity of grief, explaining that life loss affects how we function physically, emotionally, socially, personally, and spiritually. But in the midst of temporary disarray, the author reminds us that God’s grand work in our lives continues as we surrender to the painful process and trust Him to lead us through.