Card catalogue data
Wounded by God’s People: Discovering How God’s Love Heals Our Hearts by Anne Graham Lotz (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2013)
Category: Christian living
Format: Kindle
Pages: 240 (in the hardcover version)
This is the second book I’ve read in January and thus the second book of 2017.
First paragraph
As I look back on my life, it saddens me to acknowledge that some of my most painful wounds were inflicted by religious people—Gods people. Those who have been the most hurtful, those who have been the most unkind, those who have betrayed, slandered, and undermined me have been those who have also called themselves by God’s name. They have been considered Christians by themselves and by others. Yet they have been men and women whose words and behavior are inconsistent with what they say they believe and contradict what God says. Even now, I shake my head in near disbelief as I recall some of the painful experiences I will share with you in this book.
Why I read this book
Like the author, I have had my share of hurts and woundings, many of them from God’s people. This past year has been no exception. I picked up this kindle book a while back when it was on sale, but I read it last week and it was perfect timing. At the beginning of a new year, with fresh, new goals, it seemed the right time to unshackle from some of the hurts that were holding me back still. And while forgiveness is a continual effort, I felt like this gave me a good start.
The book in a paragraph
Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy & Ruth Graham, has written about how we get hurt by others, especially by Christians, and how we deal with that hurt. She opens up the bandages to show us the wounds in all their gory detail and empathizes with us about the pain they inflict. But then she goes deeper and shows us how to recover and even forgive. She uses the story of Hagar in the Bible as a running theme throughout the book. (Hagar was the servant of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. You may remember that, when Sarah couldn’t seem to have a child, she told Abraham to be intimate with Hagar. This produces a son, Ishmael, the beginnings of the Arab and Islamic worlds.) Lotz pulls many lessons from the account of the hurt that Sarah inflicts on Hagar and applies it to our modern lives.
The bottom line
We must forgive those that wound us. Forgiveness is not a feeling or a one-time act, but a continual choice we make to love the other person (although love is different from trust). And we show that forgiveness through specific acts of love toward that person.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
You may be tempted to think this is a book for women, but I found it to be engaging and applicable to men and women. Even though Lotz gives examples of her own wounding, she keeps the book grounded in Scripture. She is both sympathetic to the wounded while gently prodding them to do what they already know they must do: forgive. And everyone has been wounded, so the book applies to everyone. I highly recommend this book.