Book Description Review “Readers will find in these pages companionship, understanding, godly wisdom, and hope that it does not have to hurt forever as much as it does today.” —Nancy Guthrie, Bible teacher; author of What Grieving People Wish You Knew about What Really Helps and What Really Hurts”Colin Smith blends the consolations of Scripture with a pastor s heart and helps sufferers find hope and a route through their pain, carried by His sustaining love and faithfulness.” —Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author; host and teacher of Revive Our Hearts”A rare treasure. If you’re hurting or helping someone battling sorrow, this book is a gift.” —Mark Vroegop, Lead Pastor at College Park Church, Indianapolis; author of Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy Read more Customers Review: Pastor Colin knows the territory (grieving people, including those from his church whom he’s counseled) as well as what can make it better — and Jesus comes through loud and clear in every chapter. My priest is fond of saying “There is no greasy corner you might occupy during your life where Jesus has not been first, and where he won’t meet you to give encouragement and strength.” In this book, Pastor Colin affirms the value of tears, honestly shed; suggests that not everyone is ready to hear the most terrible stories of loss; and tells us that very often, those who have sustained loss are — contrary to what those who are trying to be sensitive may assume — hungry to talk about the one who has been lost. This book, although in many ways a competent expository tool for interpreting Lamentations, is packed with such practical counsel both for those who have lost loved ones and those trying to help them through it. I’ve read most of his books, and this is for many reasons his best yet. My favorite part of all is the concluding matter (an appendix and a postscript wherein Pastor Colin employs Calvinist theology (yes!) in his comforting words both to those who wonder about the souls of infants who are born in sin but don’t live to make a decision for Christ, and to those who might presume that all of God’s purposes register as benevolent and He can’t use tragic circumstances to bring about His will. A complex and rewarding book.
I was given the opportunity to read this book prior to release. I’m glad I did. Pastor Smith gently, but steadfastly uses wisdom from the Bible’s most complete book on grief, Lamentations. Colin not only addresses how to move on after grief, but helps navigate the reader in the midst of it. Also drawing from personal experience in his ministry, Smith is able to address the reader sympathetically, not theoretically.I look forward to the print release of the book and plan to give copies to grieving friends, since the book addresses their challenges better than I could through apologies and platitudes. If your heart is aching for the loss of a loved one, or if you know someone that needs encouragement, I highly recommend it.
For All Who Grieve is thoroughly biblical, deeply empathetic, and exceedingly practical. It explores six principles about grieving from the book of Lamentations. Pastor Colin states, “God has given us an entire book of the Bible in which sorrow is put into words and grief of what was lost is expressed over and over again.” A truly gifted teacher, Colin Smith does not present tidy and trite Christian responses to grief. He acknowledges the crushing reality of the grief Christians will face in a broken world, accompanied by tears, and often guilt, and grievance. But affirming that people of faith “hope while we grieve,” the book is full of hope: “The Savior knows what it is to walk sorrow’s path, and He is well acquainted with grief. When you pass through the valley of sorrow and loss, you are in a place where Christ can be found.”This book was specifically written with grief support groups in mind. It suggests a very simple plan for forming such a group. I highly recommend it to anyone who has experienced deep loss, who would like to start a grief support group, or wants to be better equipped to help those who grieve.
A lot of books on grief are wonderfully insightful without being very useful. Pastor Colin Smith is known for his brilliant consideration of biblical texts, and for the way he creatively and cogently communicates. He is unusually gifted. But in this book we find Smith at his most pastoral. He has been in the trenches with those who grieve the kind of loss we all fear. The kind of loss we have all observed in others – and we didn’t know what to say or do, or if there was any way to help. The grief of others makes us feel uncomfortable, and we end up avoiding them and then feeling guilty about it. There is a better way, a godlier way.Are you grieving some unthinkable loss? For All Who Grieve will help you find freedom to truly mourn, and will show you the way through despair to hope. This book will also help people who are walking with others through their grief. It opened my eyes and will help me be a better companion for grieving people.From chapter 2: “Healing comes when you face the darkest corners of your pain, trauma, grief, and loss and bring it out into the light of God’s healing presence in the company of others who love you… Silence is not the answer; fellowship is. And that happens when grieving people speak, and when others who love them listen.”
This book covers all parts of the grief process juxtaposed against the Book of Lamentations, in the Bible. Many parts are very wrenching, so be prepared for a deep dive into your emotions, as well as the people in the stories. The people in the book are real people that shared their story with Collin and finally us through this book. They didn’t hide anything so you really share in their pain, sorrow, comfort, as well as their hope. Interspersed with each of their stories are passages from the suffering people in Lamentations.You will learn that tears are a blessing from God to release the pain in our hearts. As in Lamentations 2: 18-19 relates …”let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!…Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!…” Our Savior understands because he suffered much grief also. He walks with us every step of the grieving process.The book does not just talk about grief but of the hope we have in Christ Jesus who will reunite us with our believing loved ones when Christ comes again.I just love this book. For me, it helped heal pain from lost loved ones, that I thought I was over. Please check it out, you will not be sorry.Susan Rogers
So timely! So many emotions hit at these times. Pastor Colin Smith dissects each one, discusses them, relates them to the many confusing emotions happening all at once. This sure helps a person PROCESS, what they’re feeling, so healing may begin. |
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