Location: United States
Member Since:
Oct. 02, 2012
Beverly Terry
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Smashwords book reviews by Beverly Terry
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Trusting God When Bad Things Happen
on Jan. 22, 2013
This little book is part of a larger work, "Forgiveness Formula: Finding Lasting Freedom in Christ", but stands very well on its own. It is a comfortable read, and can be finished in a short time, although personally this is the type of guide that needs to be worked through little by little. The way I would approach this is to read it thoroughly a couple of times first, then sit down with a journal and write reflections as you meditate on a section. The key the author wants to share with her readers in trusting God when bad things happen is in this quote, "I believe it is important to have a healthy view of God before a crisis happens. Otherwise, we'll view God through the crisis instead of viewing the crisis through God and His character." She encourages each of us to examine ourselves and discover how we view God. She offers some guidelines we can use in this process in Part 3 of this book. This is the part of the book I would recommend spending time praying and journaling. In Part 2 of the book, Ms. Hitz shares with us some of her own crisis experiences. Because of these events in her life, she has had to wrestle with a lot of difficult questions herself. "Why?" is a common response for many of us facing our pain, hurts, and suffering. I find it personally comforting to know that she can write authoritatively about this topic. When facing my own demons, nothing helps more than empathy and advice from someone who KNOWS and has come out of it with a closer personal relationship with Christ and is willing to share what worked for them. She uses some metaphors in this section that may help us get some perspective in dealing with the 'why' question. One of those metaphors is the puzzle piece. Imagine yourself holding a piece of a puzzle. You do not know anything about the picture it comes from. You can study the single piece minutely and make some guesses, but in the end you probably won't even come close to seeing the whole picture. But we can know the One who has all the rest of the pieces and trust Him. This is not a perfect world. Life is full of brokenness and hurt. We try to escape our pain and often the way we deal with it just adds more pain. As a result of her painful past, Shelley Hitz became involved in a ministry that reaches out to hurting young people. She created some websites to follow up with the speaking ministry and it was her interaction with questions many of the girls asked that led to writing this book. Have bad things happened to you? Have you ever questioned why God would allow such things to happen? Then I recommend this book for you. It could change your life. A complimentary review copy was provided to me by Smashwords. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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Love Me Sane
on Jan. 22, 2013
This book resonated with me because like the main character, Stacey, I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ but also struggle with my own personal demons--being bipolar. I understood the mental torment, a life of secrets, the pain of uncertainty in relationships with even friends, the pain of making poor choices and suffering the consequences, the mental confusion of memories. The book contains raw, stark reality right from the beginning. The author doesn't disguise the agony in Stacey's mind by painting pretty words. She tells the story truthfully without apologies. I'm not certain all the intimate details were necessary to convey the message she was sharing. For me, the struggle inside her mind as she strove to come to some type of peace within herself was more important than all the outside events, even the events that ultimately led to her mental imbalance. What I found most valuable was the glimpse of the inner turmoil, how she suffered, stumbled through recovery, and how healing took time and wasn't as smooth as the reader would have liked it to be. In addition to this, her husband/pastor wasn't perfect either, but was willing to stand by his wife of 20 years helping her when he was able, and going through some shifts in his attitude as well. I understand how difficult it is for a sufferer to recognize when their mental grasp on life is distorted and their perceptions of life events are skewed. From personal experience, I know how hard it is to come to the point where we admit we need help from an outside source---that we can't heal ourselves. I also realize that the recovery process is not perfect. There are a lot of obstacles to overcome. Personality conflicts, toxic relationships, well-meaning acquaintances, co-workers, the church family and our own blood families all muddy the waters making recovery a difficult, time-consuming process. I so identified with the main character when people, events, and even she herself got into the way of her recovery. I would love to see this work edited to remove the mechanical barriers of improper grammar and punctuation, unclear expressions, and tightening up of events so that this book would appeal to a greater number of readers. This story could be such a great tool in aiding others in their recovery.
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Together Again
on March 26, 2013
(no rating)
This is a lovely short story. Most of the story is written from Abe's point of view. As a Christian young man, he was pondering his future, when his friends ask him to go to the movies with them. Before the movie started, he went to the concession stand to buy some snack food and met with a former girlfriend, Ann. They had always had a comfortable relationship, and he began to wonder why they had drifted apart. One night Abe had a dream that featured Abraham Lincoln. It moved him to seek out original stories about the former President. He could feel the tug in his heart, that he had a purpose to fulfill, possibly something to do with re-telling Abe Lincoln's story the way it really happened. It was only months later that he enrolled in college. While he was working on a research paper, he read how Abe Lincoln lost his first sweetheart. He began to think of Ann and suddenly wanted to call her and talk with her. Perhaps they weren't too young after all. Included in this book are references and links to stories of Abe Lincoln. I enjoyed reading the story, but I would not call it a romance. In this case, the romance was just budding, but there was little interaction between Abe and Ann to qualify. Instead, the character Abe was featured and it was his growth within, the maturing of a young adult, that move the story forward.
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Searching for Sara
on April 18, 2013
Two hurting people, Sara Little and Christopher Lake. Sara is from England, an orphan whose mother died when she was twelve. Her father is unknown to her. In the late 1800's, all an orphan could expect from life was continual servitude. Christopher and his wife lived in Richmond, Virginia and owned a prosperous art gallery. They made it their mission in life to try to give someone a new start in life by sponsoring them. Christopher's sister and brother-in-law were often involved by scouting out someone for them to assist. This time, they learned about Sara and recommended her as their new recipient. Sara's life had been a series of hardships. Her mother was a ladies' maid and life was wonderful when she was alive. But after her death, Sara bounced from employer to employer every few months; no one trusted an orphan. Often the recipient of verbal abuse, Sara's last employer too often made unwanted physical advances on her. Finally, she ran away to stay with a priest, a friend of her mother's, determined to start anew by going to American. Two years later she finally earned passage on a ship to New York. Christopher Lake met Sara when she arrived in Richmond by train. It didn't take long before she realized that Chris's beloved Carla had died nearly two years before and he hadn't properly grieved for her. But he was determined to sponsor Sara as he and his wife had planned on when she was alive, especially after he discovered Sara's talent as an artist. She made friends with little Gwen, Mr. Lake's daughter, and with his sister and brother-in-law Dix and Paul. She became a long-term guest in his sister's home. It took Sara quite awhile for her to get used to being on the receiving side of the serving tray. She even had a maid of her own. None of this turned her head, or made her proud. What's impressive about Sara is her strength of character. Hardship and unfair treatment growing up had not embittered her or made her angry. It seemed to fortify her faith in God and in His faithfulness. He was her fortress and strength and she drew upon that source often while endearing herself with Christopher, his household and staff, the gallery staff, little Gwen. Christopher himself was an artist, but since his wife's passing he had become cynical and angry--at himself, at God, at the world. He had lost his ability to see the images necessary to continue his art. So he withdrew into himself, unable to express his grief and pain in his loss. When Sara arrived her sweet nature began to work on him, her natural empathy easing his torment. She sensed his need to move on and his inability to do so. She began to share her insights from her own experience in losing a loved one and he listened, if a bit reluctantly at first. To me, this lovely story is a bit reminiscent of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Not only did Sara help Chris through the grieving process, she was able to reach his frozen heart and release his vision for art again. Her persistence aided his return to a closer relationship with God. Sara herself gained confidence in her new life as her art was exhibited in the gallery and enthusiastically received by the public and art critics alike. And little Gwen blossomed under the attentions of a loving mother figure. Of course, no steps forward come without some conflict and difficulties. I love the characters in this story. Sara just climbs into your heart and makes herself right at home. The author did a wonderful job of giving her a cockney accent that adds to her charm. The reader feels empathy for Christopher in his dilemma as an artist who is lost without his muse. Since this is the first book of a series, I can see that there will be more to the story to look forward to in time. I hope it is soon.