Once an optimist, always an optimist, I think. The hard parts of life keep surprising me. I think I subconsciously believe that if I would just heal completely, or if my husband would just get his dream job, or if my kids would grow out of tattling or whining, that everything would be peachy keen again. 

But recently it’s sinking in that we aren’t promised a perfect life with a few hiccups. We’re promised that we will have trouble. We’re assured that life is hard. That there is a battle against us. That everyone around me has suffered in deep ways, sometimes excruciatingly so, and that pain shows up again daily sometimes. 

I’ve been through different phases of accepting this. Some haven’t been very pretty. For instance, as a young wife, I projected the challenges of our marriage onto everyone else. “The first year of marriage is awful!” I prophesied to a friend about to tie the knot. My prediction offended her – as it should have. 

These days, as I write and process through this reality, I am learning to navigate the hard parts of life with more acceptance, gratitude and eyes that look beyond today. Life is hard but it’s also beautiful.

When we are in the middle of a tough season and can’t see a way through, it helps so much to listen to the voices of other people who have wrestled as we are. Today I’m sharing three books that have carried me through a difficult season this year. The voices of these women have shone light into my darkness. They’ve reminded me who I am and who God is. 

Searching for Spring by Christine Hoover

Christine writes this book as a pastor’s wife, a mom and an American woman wrestling with the daily grind and hurt of life. She lays out our questions on the table, and then points straight to Jesus. Searching for Spring walks through the seasons of the year and the book of Ecclesiastes to provide a guidebook to show how God creates beauty out of pain. She acknowledges that life is hard, but demonstrates how that by itself is simplistic. God doesn’t leave us in that “life is hard” space. 

“You need the truth, and here it is: God can make something beautiful out of you, even the most hopeless, broken-down think in your life, especially that. The beauty will most likely come – you need to hear this, dear one – through pain, waiting, wrestling, and difficulty.” 

Christine Hoover

I especially loved how Christine walked through different roles God takes in our life, such as Potter, Author, Composer. The book boosted my confidence in who I knew God was and encouraged me to keep wrestling with him and waiting on him. 

Courage, Dear Heart by Rebecca Reynolds

If you are feeling skeptical, this book is the one you should read. Its highest virtue is how Rebecca walks you through pain without tying it up in a pretty bow. I never knew how comforting that could be until I read this book. The book is a series of letters to the disillusioned, the homesick, those living in chaos, the fearful, etc. And each letter makes you feel seen and heard and like you’ve just been tucked in a warm blanket of empathy. 

She writes in her foreword, “I want to offer you clear and strong words that describe painful experiences. Why? Because an accurate description of suffering can help us see its boundaries. To feel alone in the pitch dark with a dragon is terrifying — but if we can only light a match, if we can only catch a glimpse of the whole of a threat, we can usually begin to address that monster more strategically.” 

As a friend and fellow traveler, this is just what she does. She helps us see that we’re not alone and that life doesn’t have to be pretty to be good. 

All Shall be Well by Catherine McNiel 

For too long, we Christians have separated our faith from real life. We’ve told ourselves that God is good in church on Sunday and then whined about our Mondays and tried to live the rest of the week in our own ability, forgetting that God is with us always. 

This book points us to see God in everyday moments. Catherine also walks through the seasons, but in a more tangible way – pulling out examples from our lives in each season and pulling back the curtain on God’s presence throughout them. She also acknowledges how hard life is, and doesn’t make it sound prettier than it is. She reminds us we aren’t alone – that ultimately, Jesus walked this journey first and we have his presence with us today. 

“Why is life so depleting, when we want so badly for it to be satisfying? Faithfuness in the small-but-joyful minutiae of everyday living is one thing; faithfulness through years of darkness requires a different set of muscles entirely…But our God is here, working alongside us, working on us as we grow, as we give him our years of energy and abundance.” 

Catherine McNiel

One More Thing…

Maybe you’re not wrestling with God or walking through pain right now. If not, I’m sure you know someone who is. Here’s the deal. I didn’t buy any of these books for myself. One I won in a giveaway. One my sister ordered on Amazon and sent me. And one I was given as part of a launch team. They were all a gift to me, but brought me so much refreshment. Do you have a friend or sister suffering? Send them a book. It’s a gift of kindness that I can guarantee will encourage her. 

Click any of the links in this post to buy one of these books. A small percentage of your purchase will help support my website. But I promise every opinion in this post came straight from my heart.

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