Reviewer's Bookshelf: "It's Not Supposed to Be This Way" by Lysa Terkeurst

Book Summary (Amazon): What do you do when God’s timing seems questionable, His lack of intervention hurtful, and His promises doubtful?

Life often looks so very different than we hoped or expected. Some events may simply catch us off guard for a moment, but others shatter us completely. We feel disappointed and disillusioned, and we quietly start to wonder about the reality of God’s goodness.

Lysa TerKeurst understands this deeply. But she's also discovered that our disappointments can be the divine appointments our souls need to radically encounter God. In It's Not Supposed to Be This Way, Lysa invites us into her own journey of faith and, with grit, vulnerability, and honest humor, helps us to:

• Stop being pulled into the anxiety of disappointment by discovering how to better process unmet expectations and other painful situations.
• Train ourselves to recognize the three strategies of the enemy so we can stand strong and persevere through unsettling relationships and uncertain outcomes.
• Discover the secret of being steadfast and not panicking when God actually does give us more than we can handle.
• Shift our suspicion that God is cruel or unfair to the biblical assurance that God is protecting and preparing us.
• Know how to encourage a friend and help her navigate hard realities with real help from God's truth.

My thoughts... The tagline of this novel couldn't be more relevant to myself or my family. We've been through a lot of difficult circumstances: cancer, loss of loved ones, financial debt, difficult job situations, isolation, depression, sadness, fear....and the list goes on. Sometimes it's hard not to feel like we live in a never ending survival mode. There are so many truths presented in this amazing book, I couldn't begin to unpack them all in a short summary. I literally felt like it was so personal, and I know other readers will as well. Lysa's compassion, honesty, hope, and trust in God really reached across the pages right into my heart...because she's not just giving us her word that everything is going to be ok. She's using her heart-wrenching experiences to share God's Word and His promises.
     In one chapter Lysa talks about a physically painful situation she went through. For several days she begged God to relieve the physical pain she was experiencing. She didn't understand why God was not giving her relief from her suffering. Later, after doctors discovered the problem and did surgery, her surgeon came and spoke with her. Basically he said that Lysa's survival was a miracle, as her body had already started to decay on the inside. The truth God revealed to her through that situation was that if He had answered her prayer for relief, she would've given up trying to find the solution to her issue. She would've died thinking that the problem was solved, when in fact it was killing her. God uses our pain, our suffering, for our good. We may not always know the reason at the time, but with time we will see that He truly does "work all things for the good of those who love Him."
     Lysa has an amazing testimony, and she openly shares it with her readers as an encouragement through the very difficult circumstances of life. I'm recommending it to everyone I know...because I think we've all whispered the words, "it's not supposed to be this way" in our hearts in one season or another. 

**I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in order to give an honest review, which I did.**