Twenty years ago, Jerry Sittser lost his daughter, wife, and mother in a car accident. He chronicled that tragic experience in A Grace Disguised, a book that has become a classic on the topic of grief and loss.
Now he asks: How do we live meaningfully, even fruitfully, in this world and at the same time long for heaven? How do we respond to the paradox of being a new creature in Christ even though we don’t always feel or act like one? How can we trust God is involved in our story when our circumstances seem to say he isn’t?
While A Grace Disguised explored how the soul grows through loss, A Grace Revealed brings the story of Sittser’s family full circle, revealing God’s redeeming work in the midst of circumstances that could easily have destroyed them. As Sittser reminds us, our lives tell a good story after all. A Grace Revealed will helps us understand and trust that God is writing a beautiful story in our own lives.
A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows through Loss
How does a human being, a survivor of a terrible accident, go on living without three family members (three generations) were killed in the same accident? Jerry Sittser was widowed and the father of three motherless children because of the crash. What happens to a man’s faith in God and how does he help his children through catastrophic losses when he doesn’t know how himself? Sittser describes how utterly bewildering life was for years, how he coped, grieved, managed to keep teaching and parenting, holding onto grace and hope at the same time. Incredibly helpful.
A Grace Revealed: How God Redeems the Story of Your Life
This thoughtful and hopeful book reminds us that even though we live through losses, sometimes enormous life-changing losses, our stories can be part of God’s overarching story of redemption.
Jerry Sittser is a professor emeritus of theology and senior fellow in the Office of Church Engagement at Whitworth University. He holds a master of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and a doctorate in the history of Christianity from the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books, including A Grace Disguised and The Will of God as a Way of Life. Married to Patricia, he is the father of three children and two stepchildren, all grown, and nine grandchildren.
He also has other books, which you can discover here.
“Thoughtful and hopeful”…sounds wonderful, Joy. Thank you for the introduction. ❤️
Thank you, Vicki. I’m thankful a friend reminded me of the first book, then I found the second one.
🥰❤️🥰
God Bless us, everyone!
Amen!
I’m still looking for answers.
I think we all are! Three women in my motherline faced the loss of three children, and Leora lost those three sons in the war. I’ve also been pondering my own loss of health for more than two decades, but I haven’t lost faith in God through it. The women in my motherline didn’t lose theirs either.
Thank you for the introduction, Joy
You’re welcome, John.
😊
Thanks for suggesting Sittsers’ books, Joy. What tragedy he had to endure! Writing books to open up and to help others must have been a stress reliever for him. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4
He said his overwhelming reaction was bewilderment, especially at first. Having lost my health to fibromyalgia more than two decades ago, I certainly relate to that. The second book, written several years later, gave him more perspective.
Great recommendations.
Thanks, Andrew.
Thanks for the introduction to a writer like Jerry Sittser.
You’re welcome, Tim. Thanks to my friend Lynne who reminded me about him.
Both of these sound like powerful books.
Very thoughtful ones. I’d forgotten about the first one and didn’t know about the second one, which he wrote much later and had more perspective.
[…] 60), died suddenly. It’s been four months of grieving and processing, much of it by reading (Jerry Sittser for one) and writing (he’s shared poignant free verses with us on Facebook). Last week was […]