It's Not Supposed to be This Way by Lysa Terkeurst

The life Terkeurst was experiencing was certainly not the life she had planned. Serious abdominal issues and surgery, a marriage broken by betrayal, and then the diagnosis of breast cancer. She shares the lessons she is learning through the adversity. She is free with her raw pain but she is also free with her steadfast faith in God.

She is learning yet again to trust in God. “I forget,” she writes, “that this kind of trusting in God is often forged in the crucible of longsuffering.” (95)

The most enlightening part of the book for me was her setting straight the lie that God will never give you more than you can handle. Sometimes He will, she says. (iii) He doesn't expect us to handle it. We are to rely on His strength.

“In the middle of our disappointments and hard times, we must seek to be transformed into thinking biblically, processing with truth instinctively, and trusting God implicitly.” (183)

Terkeurst has provided some great aids for readers. She gives encouraging Scripture at the end of each chapter as well as questions for reflection and a written prayer. At the end of the book Terkeurst has listed lies we might be tempted to believe when struggling and the truth from Scripture. There is also a final list of Scriptures that go along with each chapter in the book.

I highly recommend this book for those experiencing challenges they never anticipated would be part of their lives. You will read of the pain and struggles of another. You will also read how she continued to trust God. You will be given much practical encouragement to help you in your own faith journey.

You can watch the book trailer here.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Lysa Terkeurst is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and a New York Times bestselling author. You can find out more about her at www.LysaTerKeurst.com.

Thomas Nelson, 256 pages.