Skip to main content

Review- Grief: Walking with Jesus by Bob Kellemen


Grief: Walking with Jesus, by Dr. Bob Kellemen, piqued my interest in horticulture. Like certain flowers that close at night and blossom in the morning, Grief takes the grieved believer from the depths of darkness to the light of the Son. Dr. Kellemen compassionately leads the troubled soul from the darkness of being closed in on themselves, through relationship with the Lord Jesus, to experiencing life in a different day.

Grief is a 31-day devotional book written for the grieving. Dr; Kellemen lovingly and gracefully points the reader to the Jesus who cares for them and does something about their grief. Jesus' loving character is shown in different ways. He is the suffering servant, who is intimately acquainted with our grief and who shows us that it is normal to hurt. He is a compassionate Saviour who consoles us in our grief and who makes it possible to find comfort. He is a healing Saviour, who speaks eternal truths into our earthly wounds, which means it is possible to grieve with hope. Jesus is an empowering Saviour who makes it possible for the grieving to comfort others with the comfort they have received from God.

Here are a few of the rich gems of wisdom shared by Dr. Kellemen:

Day 5: "one of the greatest temptations in our grief is to turn inward on ourselves. Instead, God calls us to turn upward to him...calls us to fill the hunger of our souls with the nourishment of fellowship with his infinitely fulfilling soul." 

Day 8: "In Jesus' name there is hope for the hopeless – for those suffering the grief of injustice as outsiders. When all the injustices of your life shout, "You are not loved!" God's beloved Son invites you into the love of the Trinity." 

Day 21: "Jesus-like grief is honest about our desire to be saved from loss. Yet it remains committed to our ultimate desire to glorify God regardless of loss or gain."
  
Grief is a gem of a 31-day devotional book full of life-giving food for the grieving soul. Dr. Kellemen graciously and lovingly guides the believer to the Lord Jesus to the life-giving light of a different day.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Midnight Mercies: Walking with God Through Depression in Motherhood

  Many Christians have gone through dark nights of the soul. They have clung onto the Lord and life in times of deep despair and sorrow in this fallen world. If they have believed that Christians should never be like this, their grief and sorrow is compounded. Midnight Mercies, by Christine Chappell, gives voice to the experience of despair. While being written for depressed mothers, the book will be helpful for anybody in such a dark place. Chappell looks at common experiences despairing people have, examines people from Scripture who went through the same, and points to helpful Scriptural truth. Chappell ends describing how experiencing the gracious Lord Jesus brought life and hope and transformed her view of herself and her situation. I highly recommend this book. The book is available  here

Someone I Know Is Grieving: Caring with Humility & Compassion by Ed Welch

  Ed Welch has written an excellent short book about how to care for others while they are grieving. In the book, he covers how to respond wisely with wisdom, with compassion, and with humility. In each section, he gives real life examples of how people have cared well and cared badly. Then he walks us through how to care well by asking the reader practical, reflective questions. This is an excellent short book, which I would highly recommend. The book can be purchased  here

Social Media Pressure: Finding Peace Alongside Jesus

  Probably all of us know people who struggle with anxiety and depression that is in some way related to their social media use. John Perritt, in   Social Media Pressure: Finding Peace Alongside Jesus is written as a response. He writes   about a number of ways in which people’s relationships, mental health, and perception of the world around them are affected by the way they use social media. Perritt gives advice about how people can gain more peace in their lives, how they can relate more thoughtfully, and how they can recognize when they are addicted. Social Media Pressure is a helpful book that gives some basic guidelines about using social media in a healthy way.