When We Hurt: Prayer, Preparation, & Hope for Life's Pain

Your "book overview" above is incorrect. It has nothing to do with this book.

if you want to get the best from Philip Yancey and Paul Brand, which I did when I was suffering real bad three years ago, please buy and read "Where is God when it hurt" instead, though both of them carry the same core message, that: Even God Himself did not explain to Job why Job had suffered, so the author just focused his discussion on the "meaning" or "to what end" of suffering. He had covered many topics, like the clear distinction between pain and suffering, the biological necessity of pain, how well intended consolation or even gift cards of christians can do more harm than good, the importance of hope as a pain killer, the notion of "the wounded healer" first preached by Nouven that God enables christians to help others in future through their suffering, the death of Christ as evidence that God knows our suffering and cares. As usual in my reviews, below please find some of my favorite passages for your reference. Dr. Henry K Beecher of the Harvard Medical School coined the term "Anzio effect" to describe what he observed among 215 casualties from the Anzio beachhead in WWII. Only one in four soldiers with serious injuries (fractures, amputations, penetrated chests or cerebrums) asked for morphine, though it was freely available....Beecher, an anesthesiologists, contrasted the soldiers' reactions to what he had seen in private practice, where 80% of patients recovering from surgical wounds begged for morphine or other narcotics. He concluded, "There is no simple direct relationship between the wound per se and the pain experienced....In the wounded soldier the response to injury was relief, thankfulness at his escape alive from the battlefield, even euphoria; to the civilian, his major surgery was a depressing, calamitous event." pg33 How happy a person is depends upon the depth of his gratitude. - John Miller pg 48 Though perseverance does not come from our power, yet it comes within our power. - St. Francis de Sales pg 73 My pain is unavoidable. But my misery is optional. - Tim Hansel pg 83