{ Breathe Again by Stacy Henagan - TLC Book Tour }

 

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (September 22, 2020)

What Do You Do When It Seems God Hasn’t Come Through for You?

When the miracle-working God whom Pastor Stacy Henagan loved and served did not answer the prayers on behalf of her terminally ill one-year-old daughter as expected, she was left crushed with grief and struggling to understand.

• How could a loving God allow this to happen?
• What do you do when it seems God has let you down?
• Is God trustworthy?

Rather than choosing to remain in overwhelming pain and doubt, Stacy emerged with a much greater belief that God is good and trustworthy, even when we don’t think His plans make sense.

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About Stacy Henagan

 

Stacy Henagan is copastor of Keypoint Church in northwest Arkansas, a multicampus church she founded with her husband, Casey. Stacy also hosts an annual women’s conference and speaks at other events in the United States and overseas. Stacy and Casey have four children: Haven, who is waiting for them in heaven, and Holland, Hayes, and Hudson.

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REVIEW: 

I received this book, a few weeks before my mother in law passed away.

 

I knew it would be good, but I had no idea just who much it would come to help me, especially in the moments where the grief felt overwhelming.

 

Stacy and her husband Casey were over the moon happy, with their little girl Haven.  She was everything they had ever dreamed of.  And then one day, just out of nowhere, their little girl becomes ill.  They take her to doctors who don't seem to think anything is serious and they are sent home with their little girl, only to continue watching her deteriorate.

 

Stacy makes the decision to trust her instinct and take her baby back in.

 

Haven is just a year old, this shouldn't be happening.  But one doctor delivers the shocking news.  Their little one has a brain tumor, and worse than that, it is cancer and the diagnosis is grave.  Haven is terminally ill.

 

Stacy and Casey are pastors, they preach about faith, about trusting God's plan, about staying focused, not worrying and leaving it all in His hands.  But now they are facing their worst nightmare, so how do they reconcile the news they receive with the loving God they follow?

 

There is a very poignant moment in their journey, right in the beginning, when they are in the hospital room with Haven before surgery.  Stacy is holding a sleeping Haven, and her husband Casey is across the room.  He turns to her and says that no matter what happens, they will trust God and not turn their backs on Him.  He asks Stacy if she is in agreement.

 

At that moment, her flesh speaks louder than her spirit and all she can do is cry.

 

It is that battle between handing over control to the God we know will take care of us, or staying stuck in the horrifying fear of what is happening to them, that I found so relatable.

 

My mother in law got a stage 4 diagnosis.  My heart and soul told me to give it to God and let it go, no matter what the outcome was.

 

My human side fought it and felt selfish, not wanting to let her go, not wanting to accept the possibility that what we were praying for, full healing and a miracle, would culminate in her passing instead.

 

Stacy does a brilliant job of taking us through her grief journey and teaching us how NOT to turn from God but rather turn towards Him when circumstances get tough.

 

I can not relate fully to Stacy and Casey because I have not gone through their situation, but I have lost family members and know full well the process, the inner struggle, the fear and the anger and the what if's.

 

This was such a beautiful book and it helped me immensely through my mother in law's passing.  Sunday will be a month since she left us, and yet it feels like it just happened yesterday.  

 

Accepting life's hard lessons and losses, is not something any of us want to go through and as hard as it is to go through them, they have a way of making us stronger and growing our faith.   Faith in the midst of disappointment, of what seem like unanswered prayers, that kind of faith that tears you apart and builds you back up, stronger than ever before and closer to God.