Hope for the Troubled Heart: Finding God in the Midst of Pain

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"What is the difference between the paraplegic woman with the smile that lights a room and the millionaire with a suicide wish?" asks Billy Graham. "Or what makes one person accept and keep his balance during a painful time, and another become a self-pitying whiner?" Hope for the Troubled Heart: Finding God in the Midst of Pain is Graham's attempt to answer these questions and the larger question that underlies them: why, in a world full of pain, should people hope and not despair? Perhaps the most powerful thing about this book is the sheer number of its heartbreaking stories about people suffering from abuse, loneliness, sickness, emptiness, financial ruin, and other calamities. Nearly every reader will find something to relate to.

Graham's stories do not stop at desolation, however. They press further, to show how suffering people find solace in the Bible, in the love of other believers, and in the hope of heaven. What Graham offers in this book is a reason to be patient, a reason to believe that the forces of destruction need not have the last word in human life. "A few more days may dawn and darken and we will know the unending day," he writes. "A few brief years, or brief moments, and we shall enter that eternal city, sit in the shadow of the Tree of Life, and drink the crystal clear water. We have only had a foretaste on earth of what it means to love and be loved." That, in the end, is the greatest reason for hope that Graham offers. --Kevin Attwood

Book Description

What hopeless situation troubles your heart? The death of a loved one? The memories of childhood abuse? The diagnosis of terminal illness? The strain of financial failure? A stormy marriage? A body wracked by pain? A lonely sense of emptiness? Into your hopeless situation comes beloved evangelist Billy Graham bearing God's gift of hope, one of the strongest "medicines" known to humanity, an amazing resource that "can cure nearly everything."

Filled with unforgettable stories of real-life people and irrefutable lessons of biblical wisdom, Hope for the Troubled Heart inspires and encourages you with God's healing and strengthening truths. It shows you how to cope when your heart is breaking, how to pray through your pain, how to avoid the dark pit of resentment and bitterness, and how to be a comforter to others who hurt. You'll be reminded that "before we can grasp any meaning from suffering we must rest in God's unfailing love." And you'll find the "joy to be discovered in the midst of suffering."

Here you'll learn how hope helps troubled hearts find peace.

Customer Reviews:

Reddragon.......2007-03-30

The product came quickly. It was exactly as advetised and met expectations. Thank You.

Comforting.......2007-03-06

Reading this helped me get through the pain of losing a loved one. It is full of hope and comfort, and often made me smile.

In the Midst of Winter: Selections from the Literature of Mourning

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The best "mourning anthology" I've seen
good literary anthology
Profoundly conceived, moving and helpful

In the Midst of Winter: Selections from the Literature of Mourning
Mary Jane Moffat
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Grief & Bereavement | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Poems of Mourning (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)
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ASIN: 0679738274
Release Date: 1992-03-03

Book Description

Death silences not only those it takes, but those it leaves behind: All too typically we can neither express our grief nor express sympathy for the bereaved. In his sensitive collection, toss finds a voice -- or several voices -- in the poetry, fiction, letters, and diaries of the world's great writers. Here are James Agee, recording the shock of his father's death; William Shakespeare, making poetry of Cleopatra's grief; the Biblical wisdom of The Book of Lamentations"; the psychological acuity of Marcel Proust. Here are mourners from classical Rome to eleventh-century China, from the Paiute Indians to present-day Ireland. Arranged in sections that correspond to the stages of mourning, In the Midst of Winter is a collection whose breadth and resonance make it invaluable and utterly unique.

Customer Reviews:

The best "mourning anthology" I've seen.......2001-02-09

Wide-ranging, well-chosen short works (mostly poems, some chapters and essays) on death and grieving. I particularly liked how it was divided into "seasons" of grieving, so I could pick a section depending on how I was feeling in my bereavement that particular day (e.g., "Winter" is divided into Shock, Idealization and Anger, Sing Sorrow, Consolations, etc; "Summer/Fall" have Memory, Dreaming the Dead, Grief's Wisdom, etc). There are individual sections on Mourning the Loss of a Child and The Grief of Children.

I have had my own losses and grief work in the past, and now work with the dying. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to families and friends. This is the one to go to to get some solace, find something for the eulogy, have a poem for the memorial service, or just find a like mind months and years after the loss. This is it.

good literary anthology.......1999-07-21

This is an excellent collection of literary selections about grieving. I was given this book and one other (Dying: A Book of Comfort, ed. Pat McNees) when my mother died. I couldn't read anything very long -- couldn't concentrate -- so it was helpful to have these books with short passages on what I was going through.

Profoundly conceived, moving and helpful.......1999-07-07

This wonderful anthology is for anyone who loves poetry, but can be a miracle for those who both love poems and who find themselves in grief. It is so simply and intelligently organized, into sections that approximate stages following the loss of one who is loved, with selections of poetry ranging from classic Chinese poets Mei Sheng and Fu I, whose first century B.C. verse hit my sensibilities as strongly as Anne Sexton's, to the incredible unvarnished strength of several Edna St. Vincent Millay poems, that forced me to see that poet in a different light. Each section can be read as its own anthology.

I salute Mary Jane Moffat for this wonderful volume and commend it to everyone. It grew from the author's personal loss, and its careful selections and great strength reflect this. For me, facing the greatest loss I could ever imagine, it was a great gift, the only writing that matterred to me for months. The volume closes with the wonderful "Dear Men and Women" of John Hall Wheelock. Please read it all!

When People Grieve, Expanded, Revised and Updated: The Power of Love in the Midst of Pain
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Power of Love is Right On

A must have for you, family & friends
When People Grieve, Expanded, Revised and Updated: The Power of Love in the Midst of Pain
Paula D'Arcy
Manufacturer: Crossroad Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824523393

Book Description

Since the publication of her first bestseller Song for Sarah, Paula D'Arcy has become an internationally renowned expert in grief and bereavement issues. Now in a completely expanded, revised, and updated version of an earlier book, When A Friend is Grieving (Random House) Paula helps us understand how to cope with the process of grief and also how to reach out to others in the pain of grief. This classic manual is full of practical advice.

Customer Reviews:

Power of Love is Right On.......2007-06-21

What a wonderful, loving guide for those who grieve and/or those who are close to the bereaved. Especially if you are close to someone who has suffered deep loss, this book is an amazing life line to help you understand the grieving process and how to love and help your friends during a difficult time. Highly recommended. Quick read, but absolutely packed full of loving - yet practical - insight and advice.

A must have for you, family & friends.......2007-04-08

This book was suggested by other grieving parents. It was nice to read that I wasn't going crazy. It is wonderful to pass it on to family and friends, so that if they want to help they're given some pointers.

Don't Waste Your Sorrows: New Insight into God's Eternal Purpose for Each Christian in the Midst of Life's Greatest Adversities

Average customer rating:

Don't Waste Your Sorrows
A Unique Insight
A Unique Insight
A very timely book on Christian suffering.
End the pity parties!

Don't Waste Your Sorrows: New Insight into God's Eternal Purpose for Each Christian in the Midst of Life's Greatest Adversities
Paul E. Billheimer
Manufacturer: Bethany House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Grief & Bereavement | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

The question, "Why, God?" has been asked by Christians from all levels of spiritual maturity throughout history. Perhaps nothing is as perplexing to Christians as the enigma of pain and suffering.

This well-loved writer and pastor, ministering for over 60 years, continues the theme originally presented in his bestselling Destined for the Throne: Christians are in training for eternal rulership with Christ. The character needed to fulfill both present and future responsibilities can, at times, be developed only in the school of suffering. He points out that it is not the mere presence of suffering but how a Christian reacts to it which determines one's spiritual growth through sorrow and pain.

A call to all Christians-

Customer Reviews:

Don't Waste Your Sorrows.......2006-03-01

This is about the best book I've read that explains why God allows suffering & pain in this world. People are always asking why does God allow some of the tragedies that take place on earth.....give them this book. If you don't believe in God, maybe this will change your mind.

A Unique Insight.......2000-06-27

This book is difficult to describe. I have read over a hundred religion books and this one is certainly in my top five. The insight gathered from this book helped me to understand that trials and suffering in the life of a christian are purposeful and necessary far beyond anything that we generally acknowledge. This is a must read for any person who considers themselves a christian! This book will help you to understand the pain that life can bring and to make sense of it in the light of God's plan and will for you!

A Unique Insight.......2000-06-27

A very timely book on Christian suffering........1998-06-12

This book presents a thought-provoking perspective on God's purposes for Christian suffering. The author supports his thoughts with Scripture. His interpretations and insights are deep yet very comforting. Although I have read numerous books on sorrow, tribulations, and suffering over the years, this book has had the greatest impact on my understanding of this most difficult subject.

End the pity parties!.......1997-03-08

This is one of the best books I've read as a Christian. It totally clarified the role of suffering in the life of the believer (our suffering is not God's fault!), and armed with the Biblical facts brought out in this book, my attitude toward the hard part of life has changed dramatically and permanently. Several copies of this book should be in every Christian's library for lending out

Dont Waste Your Sorrows: Finding God's Purpose in the Midst of Pain

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Dont Waste Your Sorrows: Finding God's Purpose in the Midst of Pain
Paul E. Billheimer
Manufacturer: Bethany House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0764201581
Release Date: 2006-03-01

Book Description

No pain, no gain. Billheimer gives hope to those in pain-it's all part of the training. Count the painful "why God?" moments in life as character building for eternity.

In the Midst of Death (Matthew Scudder Mysteries)

Average customer rating:

Matt Scudder Solves Another One
Scudder Heads Towards Oblivion
The series is starting to take off
A short but engaging early Scudder novel
Pretty good, but not up to Block's normal high standard.

In the Midst of Death (Matthew Scudder Mysteries)
Lawrence Block
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0380763621

Book Description

Bad cop Jerry Broadfield didn't make any friends on the force when he volunteered to squeal to an ambitious d.a. about police corruption. Now he'saccused of murdering a call girl. Matthew Scudder doesn't think Broadfield's a killer, but the cops aren't about to help the unlicensed p.i. prove it -- and they may do a lot worse than just get in his way.

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Bad cop Jerry Broadfield didn't make any friends on the force when he volunteered to squeal to an ambitious d.a. about police corruption. Now he's accused of murdering a call girl. Matthew Scudder doesn't think Broadfield's a killer, but the cops aren't about to help the unlicensed p.i. prove it -- and they may do a lot worse than just get in his way.

Customer Reviews:

Matt Scudder Solves Another One.......2006-01-18

Lawrence Block is an excellent writer, and he is at his best with the grim streets of New York and bleak lives of many of its inhabitants. Matt Scudder is an ex-cop who quit the force after one of his shots went astray and killed a little girl. Now, he works as an investigator. In this story, Jerry Broadfield, a police officer, has blown the whistle on his fellow cops. Immediately, a prostitute charges him with extortion. He hires Scudder to investigate, but before Scudder can do much, the prostitute ends up dead in Broadfield's apartment. Scudder suspects a frame up, but proving it is difficult. If not Broadfield, who murdered the prostitute? And why did Broadfield turn against his fellow officers? Block gives us the clues as Scudder unravels the case while fighting a losing battle against becoming an alcoholic. The story moves fairly quickly and should keep your interest to the end.

Scudder Heads Towards Oblivion.......2002-07-05

In this, the 3rd book in the series, Matt Scudder is asked for help by a New York copy who believes a prostitute is setting him up. Before he can make too many inroads into the case, the prostitute is dead and the policeman is arrested on suspicion of being responsible. Something doesn't ring true to Scudder, particularly when he finds out the cop has been providing information to Internal Affairs, putting him on the out with his fellow officers.

This is one of the darker books in the Matt Scudder series with Matt sinking into a growing depression and succumbing to the bottle with increasing regularity. Although sinking heavily into alcoholism in this book, he still manages to hold it all together enough to perform his job admirably well.

Scudder is a very interesting character, but he is also defined by the actions that he can't explain, even to himself. A perfect example of this is his habit of tithing. He admits that he is in no way religious, yet every time he is paid, he tithes ten per cent of his earnings to the nearest church. The amusing part is that Scudder can't explain why he does it and reacts to it with head-shaking bemusement.

This is a typical hardboiled mystery, sometimes despairingly so, featuring a character who grows more fascinating and enigmatic the more we find out about him.

The series is starting to take off.......2001-09-05

For for the first time in the Matt Scudder series -- now three books long -- the word "alcoholic" rears its ugly head; it's not uttered by Matt, but suggested by a questioning friend. And Matt is full of denial: he can stop anytime he wants, he doesn't drink that much, it doesn't interfere with his capabilities. But, during the solving of this mystery, Matt's seldom far from his last or next drink, he's already suffering blackouts, and he made several tactical, and possibly deadly, errors because of a brain fogged by burbon and coffee. But in between his repeated toss-backs, we have another tight little mystery: This time his client is a cop on the take who gets too greedy and is set up to appear to have killed a hooker. And we get to meet some original and intriguing characters: like Doug Furhman, a character that would be perfect for the acting talents of the late Elisha Cook, Jr., and Kenny the owner of Sinthia's, a gay Village bar. Elaine, the call girl, is back from the first book with a more substantial role in this tale. And there's the client's wife with whom Matt has fling, thankfully alluded to, not given a full desription by Block. And Matt keeps the affair going by feeding her the lines she wants to hear, or could it be that he is so desperately lonely that he really means them and it is her that is stringing his emotions along? It's a dirty big city, but I'm glad Matt lives there and Lawrence Block takes us along with him on his adventures.

A short but engaging early Scudder novel.......2001-04-23

Lawrence Block's early Matthew Scudder novels are considerably shorter and less complex than later entries in the series. Scudder was still drinking during this time period and here he makes his first acknowledgement that it might be getting out of control. The plot is intriguing, a dirty cop begins cooperating with an anti-corruption probe and is framed for murder. Scudder must answer two questions who did the frame up and why did the cop suddenly decide to become a rat? "In the Midst of Death" is one of the bleaker entires in the Scudder series both in terms of its outcome and for what happens in Scudder's personal life. It is not an essential entry in the series, but it is a good one.

Pretty good, but not up to Block's normal high standard........2000-05-05

With this book, the third in the Matthew Scudder series, Scudder is hired by a crooked cop named Jerry Broadfield, who decides to grab a bit of the limelight by exposing corruption in the police department. Problem: a hooker Broadfield was seeing turns up dead in his apartment. The police won't do much to investigate, of course, because Broadfield betrayed the badge. That leaves Scudder to go after the killer.

It's a good book, but it doesn't measure up to the high standards set by other volumes in the series. Part of this is because there's not enough focus on the characters. Seems strange to type that about Lawrence Block, who normally writes great characters. This time around it feels like he wasn't sure where he wanted to go with the series, so Matt is the same at the end of the book as he was at the beginning. He's simply there to go through the motions and solve the crime.

Book Description

Trust the God Who Allows THIS?

The last thing you want to do when crushed with indescribable pain and suffering is turn to the very God who allows it all to happen. What right does He have, especially now, to ask for your loyalty, your obedience, your love? When cancer took his wife and left him despairing alone, James Means unwillingly had to ask God the same questions facing you. A Tearful Celebration is the candid, pull-no-punches account of his struggle to understand God’s ways and to stand firm in the face of incalculable loss. This new edition of a 1986 Gold Medallion finalist will lead you to the place you most truly long to be: right with God and secure in Him again.

Banner Across Top:

A 1986 Gold Medallion Book Award Finalist—

Now Revised and Updated

Headline:

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

—Psalm 34:18

Body copy:

To all who long for the steadfast, quiet confidence of godly men and women who rise triumphant out of the cruel calamities of life…

The experience of life is very good—and very bad. Beauty is side-by-side with ugliness.

I cannot now soar with wings like the eagle. It is a treacherous road,

painful to my feet, but He makes my heart burn within me.

We must rejoice not merely because it is commanded, but because faith necessitates it and grace promotes it.

The God of adversities provokes tearful celebration.

…take heart and find hope. These pages will guide you in your search for faith and meaning. You will not be disappointed.

“James Means’s honesty and his sensitivity to God is a combination that makes this book a source of comfort and strength to those caught in the grip of grief. The ability with which he shares his sorrow with us is extraordinary.”—The Pentecostal Minister

“A great deal of refreshing honesty for a grieving heart.”—Lyla Mattozza, New Beginnings Bereavement Support

“This testimony of God’s grace is most impressive.”—The Baptist Standard

“A Tearful Celebration is an honest and thought-provoking account of what the author’s difficult journey has taught him about himself, his grieving, and God’s sufficiency.”—Caregiver Quarterly

Story Behind the Book

Ugliness comes in a great variety of forms, but few are more confusing and horrific than the drawn-out death by cancer of a precious loved one. Such was the experience that caused James Means to come face-to-face with the harsh reality that God failed to respond as he had asked and expected Him to. Means grapples with the mysteries of God and finds meaning in catastrophe. This book contains no glib platitudes and no shallow apologetic for the bitter realism of suffering. There is, however, the powerful testimony to God’s sovereignty, grace, and ultimate goodness. There is also a revelation of the biblical brand of faith that stands rock-solid in the most distressing of human experience.

Hope for the Brokenhearted: Gods Voice of Comfort in the Midst of Grief And Loss

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Hope for the Brokenhearted: Gods Voice of Comfort in the Midst of Grief And Loss
John Luke Terveen
Manufacturer: Victor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0781443628

Book Description

This book grew out of the author's own experience with grief and loss from his fourteen-year-old daughter's death. He scoured books looking for comfort but found the Bible itself to be his greatest source of hope, comfort, wise counsel, and encouragement. After reviewing more than 200 books on grief and loss, he discovered that none investigated biblical passages oriented toward grief and loss themes. He set out to fill the huge, unmet need for a book that helps Christians embrace relevant Scriptures more fully and seriously in the midst of their mourning. The biblical selections deal with the hard questions, honest passions, and divine hope that only some who have walked down the path of sorrow could write about. Topics such as resurrection, the second coming, heaven, the resurrection body, doubt, anger, guilt, and dashed dreams are covered with great care to minister to the hearts of those who are grieving.

Features and Benefits

Foreword by best-selling author Randy Alcorn.
Thoroughly focuses on Scriptures oriented to grief and loss more than any other book on the market.
A prayer application at the end of each chapter focuses the readers' heart on spiritual growth through their time of grief and loss.
Chapters are stand-alone and can be read in any order the reader chooses.

Embracing Life Again: Finding Your Way in the Midst of Loss

Average customer rating:

Touched the Heart
Heartfelt and Practical

Embracing Life Again: Finding Your Way in the Midst of Loss
Gwen Bagne
Manufacturer: Winepress Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Touched the Heart.......2005-03-23

Heartfelt and Practical.......2000-01-29

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