There are few today who are not affected directly or indirectly from the effects of loss. Death, divorce, abuse, job loss, and health issues are the most common reasons we are adversely affected, but there are also disappointments of shattered dreams, failed expectations, doubts about faith, and other losses that contribute to the pressures bearing down.
Shattered explores how these losses can impact all areas of your life, including your relationship with God. There is the immediate impact, especially in major losses, but there is also a tendency of some to bury both the hard-hitting problems and the smaller ones that gradually occur. The refusal to talk about, or even think about, our pain can be detrimental.
This book tells the reader that to deny or ignore our pain is what stands in the way of healing. Schulte explains that it is necessary to pay attention to what you are trying to cover and offers hope through “healing tasks of the heart”. If we allow our losses, hurts, bitterness, and anger to keep building it affects us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This is designed to draw you to a closure, hope, and a more secure relationship with God.
Good book! I am one of those who buries pain and puts up emotional walls when dealing with everything from a major loss to a minor one. I wish I had learned how to deal with losses many years ago instead of letting them build up to to where I am today. My open rebellion against God ended many years ago, but I still struggle with trust issues...even more than I realized. Although a lot of my "rocks" remain covered from others, they are there and weigh me down. Even though I am aware of this about myself, Shattered did help me to realize that I have not dealt with a lot of the losses in a healthy manner. Of course, I realized this, too, but have never moved forward to the healing portion. Acceptance of what has happened and trusting God that there is an overall plan are only a part of the process. There is more to do and Schulte wants the reader to move to a better level.
Part 1 deals with Evaluating the Assault of Loss on the Heart, Part 2 is Reclaiming Your Heart, and Part 3 is the healing Reinvesting the Heart. I could strongly identify with a paragraph in one of the chapters in Part 3 about the reluctance to reopen dreams placed on a shelf due to fear of trusting others...including God. There is also Appendix A, B, C, and D to help you further evaluate the losses you have experienced, how you felt, and how you are dealing with them. Whether you are dealing with a fresh catastrophic loss, small ones that have added up over the years, or a combination of the two, Shattered is a useful tool for allowing God to once again create beauty and value from a life that feels broken.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Leafwood Publishers for the purpose of this review.
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