Finding Purpose Beyond our Pain
I've never been interested enough to pursue a career in psychology, but I've always had a penchant to understand others and human nature. As part of the Thomas Nelson blogger's program, every here and now there's a book that will be published that piques my interest. Why choose to review Finding Purpose Beyond Our Pain?
One thing in ministry that has become abundantly apparent is that no matter how put together our lives may seem on the outside, everyone is dealing with some sort of pain. Paul Meier and David Henderson, both M.D.'s outline seven of the most common areas of pain that people face in their personal and corporate lives: Injustice, Rejection, Loneliness, Loss, Discipline (or what results from a lack thereof), Failure, and Death.
Each chapter is systematically broken down into four parts--identifying and defining the issue, the dynamics behind the issue, a different perspective from which to view the issue, and a way to go about handling them. The authors provide anecdotes and personal stories, which they've come across, to help readers relate better to the issue and are very pastoral in their approach to each subject.
Although I am not a psychologist or a doctor, I've found that helping people identify and name some of the issues that they are dealing with alleviates a lot of anxiety surrounding them--therefore allowing people to actually wrestle with something that wasn't so tangible in the first place. There's something about naming a problem that helps you create a plan of attack or strategy to solve it.
These complex issues must also be evaluated with a much broader understanding that what "I" deal with is seldom something experience alone, but always incorporates a "we." Though the steps taken to tackle the issues may have to be self-motivated, Meier and Henderson have done well to remind us all that there is a God who is deeply involved and cares about us and is not ignorant or powerless to be present in the midst of our pain.
