In the midst of suffering, you want answers for the unanswerable, resolutions to the unresolvable. But pain is a chasm of the unknown. In one breath, you may be able to say with confidence that God's got this. In the next, you might descend into disbelief and despair, where you are raw before God, an open wound.
Whether you are dealing with grief, spiritual doubt, chronic pain, or a difficult season of life, there is a pathway through this suffering: lament. Lament minds the gap between current hopelessness and coming hope. Lament anticipates new creation but acknowledges the painful reality of now. It recognizes the existence of evil and suffering - without any sugarcoating - while simultaneously declaring that suffering will not have the final say.
In the midst of your darkest times, let Aubrey Sampson help you discover that lament leads you back to a place of hope - because God sings a song of renewal and restoration within your pain. And he sings a louder song than suffering ever could.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- When Your Game Is Changed: An Invitation to Lament and Hope
- It's Okay to Be Honest: Expressions of Lament
- Begin with How: Responses to Pain
- The Grief of Love: Lamenting Losses
- Hitting Walls in Lament: When You'd Rather Not Face Your Pain
- We Carry Each Other Home: Lament and Relational Conflict
- When Pain Is Chronic: The What-Might-Have-Been Lament
- Learning to Say "Yet": Seeking God's Presence in Our Pain
- When You Just Need to Do Something: Handholds in the Days of Doubt
- Beyond Yourself: Lament Loves Company
- What Kind of God Do We Have?: Withness Remains
Appendix A: Advice (or Not) - Advice about Advice
Appendix B: Verses to Cling to in Pain
Study Guide: Your Lament Journey
ENDORSEMENTS:
Anchored by her own faith journey and experience of personal loss and suffering, Aubrey encourages authenticity and fosters hope for those who are in the midst of pain and suffering. I am confident this book will be of great encouragement to you as you reflect on the experiences of lament in a world of suffering. - Ed Stetzer, PHD, Billy Graham distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and executive director of the Billy Graham center.
I'm celebrating this book on lament. Don't we all need better ways of grieving? Don't we need a better understanding of suffering? Aubrey dives deep into the Scriptures and returns with a biblical map and a voice I shall return to again and again. - Leslie Leyland Fields, author of Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt, and the Seas.
If you have ever felt the weight of pain pulling hard at your body and soul - and I know you have - there is solace in these pages. Aubrey teaches us not to hide from pain but to look it in the face, hard and long, and lament......and, in the depth of this hard, honest song, to find the Louder Song - the presence of the Comforter. - Catherine McNiel, author of Long Days of Small Things
