Who hasn't experienced shattered dreams - moments when our lives feel as if they are falling off their axis, spinning out of control, crashing down at our feet. Who hasn't found themselves devastated and broken, spilled out and hurting, desperate for restoration and redemtpion. What is happiness- True contentment - Security - Blessing? Where does one find these things in this broken and stained world filled with disappointments and heartaches?

Larry Crabb bodly declares the compassion and immeasurable grace of God our Father who desires above all else to bless His children.

I recommended this title to a friend in crisis - she laughed at the title - saying "This doesn't sound very encouraging". Oh - but this is the essence of life, we must experience the shattering to experience true grace, to appreciate the fullness of God's love, to find ourselves in total surrender to a faith that will forever change us and restore us.

I began reading this book after my husband preached a sermon about being "fully equipped" out of II Timothy. How true that God does equip us for the storms of life that batter us and threaten to destroy us.

I have a new-found respect for Larry Crabb as he teaches the doctrines of Christ and tells of the vast love and grace out of his own experience with shattered dreams. Living in the middle of a world shattered by health issues he has experienced grace and restoration and testifies of it in this powerful, life-changing book.

Thank you Waterbrook for this review copy ( )

I received this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program and I wasn't that excited. I find many Christian self-help books to be formulaic and oversimplified. Might I also point out that Christian self-help is a moronic classification since Christianity is all about Christ working in people unable to save themselves. So it was with great trepidation that I cracked open the cover and read the Author's Note and Introduction. "Not bad," I thought, "but I don't hold out much hope for the rest."

The rest blew me away. It was the antithesis of self-help, the flip side of the prosperity gospel, the inverse of American Christianity. There are no steps to follow. There is simply an attitude shift and a different view of problems. This is not a way to become happy but a way to find God.

It reminded me of Revelations 3:17,18 - "Because you say, 'I am rich and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see."

Ten out of ten bookmarks.

http://toomanybooknotenoughtime.blogspot.com/ ( )

This is a difficult book for me to review as I haven't had any great tragedies befall me in my life. That being said, what Crabb suggests we do when faced with loss and sadness is sound. He offers no false assurances, no trite and shallow solutions, but instead focusses on the grace of God.

One could wish Crabb had delved more deeply into other Christian traditions - does the ascetical tradition offer any guidance to Christians today? Does the Catholic understanding of uniting our sufferings with those of Christ provide a way for Protestants also to serve God and their neighbour in their suffering? I think the answers to both questions are yes; and while Crabb is sound so far as he goes, there are largely unexplored areas for faithful Christians to explore in relation to the sorrows and sufferings we experience. ( )

Priceless after the death of my son. ( )

I actually didn’t finish this book, and I probably wouldn’t be counting it among my reads for the year and reviewing it if it weren’t an Early Reviewers title. As such, I have the unenviable task of explaining why I didn’t like it.

Personally, I think the concept of Crabb’s book is excellent, and that he does a good job of diagnosing various problems in contemporary churches, specifically as regards views on happiness, suffering, and joy. I really wanted to like the book; when I received it in the mail, I thought it had come into my life at the perfect moment. At the time I was picking up the shards of several shattered dreams: I had flunked out of the school I intended to be my alma mater, my scholarships and high GPA were nowhere to be seen, and I was struggling with understanding my own sexuality.

But enough about me. The book started off well enough, but as I read on the sequins began to fall from my eyes, and I began to see Crabb’s work for what it was rather than what I wanted it to be. To begin with, Shattered Dreams is very repetitive, a typical problem with poorly-written nonfiction books. And as for his citations, they’re practically nonexistent. I don’t expect a scripture reference at the end of every sentence in this sort of book—in fact, that can become tiresome—but Crabb just comes across as lazy. At one point he articulates an idea that he says comes from C. S. Lewis, but doesn’t even bother to mention which book he’s citing.

Finally, the view of Christian life this book presents is a pretty dim one, and not one I subscribe to.

Not recommended. ( )