Unreasonable
Hope
by Chad Veach
That couldn’t happen to me if often our response to
the unimaginable that others are experiencing in this world. Yet, often the fright of a long and painful
road is just the path we are on, despite our desire to run away. In his new book, Unreasonable Hope by pastor Chad Veach, he tells the story of his
family, specifically his long journey with his daughter Georgia’s disease,
lissencephaly. This disease is a rare brain disorder that causes her to have
many seizures and setbacks. Fighting
feeding tubes and hoping upon hope that things would become normal as other
children experience, Chad and his wife knew that they were in for a difficult
life, they just didn’t realize the immense struggle. This book is Chad’s grasping at how to love
and serve God even in the midst of a terribly rocky road with a child who
suffers so much at the hand of this disease.
The honesty with which Chad shares his life is to be
commended, even when he feels a deep sense of helplessness. He writes, “After a few moments, she snapped
out of it and the tremors began. She
shook in the aftermath of the seizure.
The whole thing looked so traumatic and painful and, worst of all, there
was nothing I could do (35).” The gut
wrenching feeling of wanting to help, to soothe your daughter’s pain is a
natural tug at the heart of every dad, so when you can’t do anything, you feel
bad. But as Chad indicates, this is
sometimes a place where we pull back from God, but God calls us to lay bare our
lives, for he knows and has provided for in us in every way.
Many decry the absence of God in the midst of
terrible and horrendous situations because they can’t see a perception of how
God should act in their minds. Chad
reminds his readers that, “Whether through people, miracles, or medicine, God wants
to help – even loves to help – in the day of trouble. As he proves throughout the Bible, this is
where he thrives (86).” Chad reminds us
that when we look for God, we’ll find him all around. In failure we find God because we remember or
recall the ways God has provided for our needs, our spouse’s needs, even our
children. The beauty of the way Chad
expresses God’s presence is that he isn’t calling his readers to look for the
miraculous in every situation, but in many ways the mundane ways God has
already been present.
I think you will be encourage as you read this book,
as someone who has seen stretches of painful events, Chad will bless you with
his words.
Thanks to BookLook Bloggers for the book and Thomas
Nelson Publishers.
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