Belonging

Belonging offers a fresh perspective on common grace, leading us out of self-destructive narcissism and into whole and healthy relationships with God and others.

The reality is, God created us with an innate desire to belong to something more than us. When we integrate our story within God’s first story about us, we can bravely face ourselves and discover the truth of belonging and worthiness that God has written. And we start to imagine how to invite others into a greater sense of belonging.

The journey to finding ourselves and one another is not for the faint of heart. It’s messy. It’s hard work. It’s worth it. We can have a front-row seat to a tectonic shift, not just on the surface of our lives, but in places deep down inside as we recognize common grace in the beautiful and terrible parts of our lives. In other words, every chapter in our stories, every conversation, and every character is part of the way back to belonging. You are invited to the very edge of your seat to anticipate what could happen in you and others if you engage with the unexpected grace that passionately declares life is not all about our pain, our accomplishments, our rights, our abuse, our power, or our beliefs. It is about us finding our way. Together. It is about a supernatural interconnectedness to a deeper story that invades every nook and cranny of our lives with light and love—because we belong to one another.

Table of contents:

I: Our Story of Grace

2 : The Prelude: Appetites

3 : The Cast of Characters

4 : The Twist in the Plot

5 : The Postlude: Little Earthquakes Everywhere

6 : Changing You in the Story

7 : Changing the Conversation

8 : Changing the Cast of Characters

9 : Every Moment

Endorsements:

If you feel alone and stuck, read this book. Rediscover our rescue story and a love worth living for. BOB GOFF, bestselling author

I know Sharon Hersh, and I am privileged to be a part of her story. I have witnessed some of the heartache she writes about and the war of desire that she names with raw, stunning, and life-giving truth. This book, like her life, is a song written in the minor key that makes me tremble with the hope that I, too, broken as I am, might be the delight of God. Sharon takes us to the deeper story that always intersects with our worst moments and most mundane days and transforms us as the truest storyteller rewrites what we fear can never be told. Belonging will change the trajectory of your story and help you join the stories around you with wisdom and joy.

DAN B. ALLENDER, PhD, professor of counseling psychology and founding president, The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology; author of To Be Told, The Wounded Heart, and Healing the Wounded Heart