Monday, August 26, 2013

Resurrection Year: a review



I fell in love with nonfiction books in college. Travel memoirs, more specifically. Reading about adventures in Paris and India and London was they perfect escape from Beckett and whatever else I was studying. So I was excited to read Resurrection Year by Sheridan Voycey, which I imagined would be the story of a couple who, after learning they could not have children, took a year off to have adventures around the world.


As I began reading, however, it was obvious that this was not going to be a highly exaggerated travel memoir, indulgent in long descriptions of meals and seaside walks. This was a story brimming with Truth, the honest story of one couple's battle with infertility, from their many failed attempts to the painful decision to allow their dream die. Not knowing where to turn next, they ultimately decide to give up everything they know to travel in hopes of finding healing in new dreams.


Resurrection Year is one of the most beautifully raw stories I have read. Unlike so many other books (Christian and otherwise) that end tidily, this one openly wrestles with the questions that will never have an answer. The story is told with a captivating honesty that resonated with me. Issues of fertility and childbearing are the last things on my mind right now, but the struggle through unanswered prayers and the heartbreak that comes with choosing to hope is something every believer can sympathize with. Sheridan and his wife, in spite of God's seeming silence and years of hopes unfulfilled, grow in their understanding of God's love for them.


It made me cry, like the snorty, have-to-redo-my-makeup kind. And I am not one to cry (unless Delilah is on the radio.) The way God carefully guided this couple through their pain, even though it so often seemed He wasn't there, was incredibly moving.


This, I thought, is something Christians need to talk more openly about: the unanswered prayers, the pain of not knowing God's will, the decision to keep trusting Him anyway. It's a powerful, inspiring testimony that everyone has, on some level, been through.


If you are looking for an encouraging book to finish out your summer reading with, or maybe a book to suggest to someone struggling through doubt and loss, I would highly recommend Resurrection Year.







Note: I received a free copy of this book by Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own (I wouldn't lie to ya.)



5 comments:

  1. Adding this to my "to read" list--thank you for the recommendation.

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  2. Oh man, this sounds like a good one. I need to at it to my always growing list :) You are right, Heather. I wish more believers were brave enough to have conversations about the hard things, the unanswered prayers, and the struggles we all face. I think too often we put on a happy face and move through life in a way that is not authentic. And honestly, I think we make things a lot harder on ourselves by trying to keep up that facade.

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  3. I love book reviews! Thanks for this one girl:) I'll have to check it out! love Katie

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  4. Sounds like a wonderful book! I love reading such honesty.

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  5. Hmm, may have to check this one out! Thanks for the recommendation :)

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