Healing Stones Book

What do you do when you're at the lowest of the low points, suffering the most painful thing you could imagine, losing the most precious things you have, and know that it's because YOU made the biggest mistake of your life??

And then what happens when you have to go on? Because life doesn't just end there...
And you have to live with yourself? When no one else will?

Healing Stones tells the story of a woman caught in adultery... (yikes) ...and her path to healing.

There were so many things I loved about this.

First, I tried to read without thinking I would end up loving the book just because I love a lot of what the co-author (Stephen Arterburn) has already done.

That was taken care of when I just fell in love with the book itself. It was so well written (Great job Nancy Rue too!) and the issues in it so sensitively handled that I didn't have any of the terrible effects of not-so-great christian writing befall me. (For me that would be apathy, cynicism, frustration, that all-too-well-known feeling of 'Yeah, Right'(insert eye-roll here), or sometimes simply gagging up the spoon that I feel being shoved down my throat.) I think we could all agree that there are lots of books out there in the "christian lifestyle/culture" genre --I think I made that up-- that are good examples of what it's NOT like to live out a life of faith in the real world.

Second, I didn't really realize it was a mystery because the authors didn't try to do that whole sneaky "I'm going to fool the reader" thing that you always get when you read mysteries.
You see, I'm the kind of girl who never EVER tries to guess to figure out who did it. For two reasons: I'm so aware of the twist thing that always happens and I know at some point someone is going to try to fool me... And I don't want to give anyone that satisfaction so I just don't. AND because I like to be genuinely surprised when the detective (or whoever) figures it out at the same time I do.
For one of the first times I found myself being sneaky with the book and 'guessing' at the end result and I was right! It was a good feeling. A free feeling. An "I don't have to protect myself from the sneaky author" kind of feeling. And interesting, because I don't usually get to feel that way.

The biggest deal with this book, though, is what it teaches. That God is good, that suffering is real, that the pain that mistakes bring you is part of the path to healing, that grace and forgiveness is life-changing and earth-shatteringly fundamental to the Christian life.

And that's not JUST for yourself or JUST for others. :)

It's a good one. Definitely 5 stars for book content and great writing. I feel like it's a book of life wisdom, and something I'll re-read one day.