Prayers, Texts and Tears

I loved this book. It's wonderful for if you're grieving anything in your life. I was hoping it would be a little more helpful to those helping people walk through the grieving process, but it's mostly for people struggling with where God is in their grief. Part memoir, part inspirational. So many parts of this book spoke to me!

*gracias a netgalley for my copy of this book*

This book was very timely for me and I found Dai's openness very refreshing and healing.  Grief isn't necessarily as a result of losing someone but in this case it was. 

Dai he didn't have much time between learning about his fathers illness and his death, not that anything can prepare you for losing someone you love.  His emotions were all over the place, this saw him questioning his faith, then leaning into it, coping with the diagnosis of depression and accepting these new feelings and working through them.

I liked the Dai Dictionary throughout the book, it was both entertaining and a learning tool but even more I thought it was great that he referred to God's work throughout with bible verses and prayer.

There were two parts of the book that really struck a chord with me, equally so.  The first is the Prayers throughout which were done first from Dai and the second prayer he has written from the perspective of God.  The moving prayer from the book consisted of Dai's prayer being blank (he was really struggling) and the prayer from God being so intimate and loving.
Dai's Prayer ...  
God's Response: I hear you. Every silence. Every pause. Every intake of breath followed with no words. Know I hear them all. I know. I hear. So know that I AM here.

The second part of the book that was moving for me was the chapter written by Dai's wife Cath.  From a wife's perspective I see it as a love letter to her husband.  I will end with the words that Cath wrote that were perhaps the most intimate in the whole book.
"I have seen beauty in the brokenness like no other beauty I have experienced...I have seen it in Dafs and known it in me.  This loss has left us both with a limp but somehow it's a beautiful limp."

I really enjoyed this book! Grief is such a hard subject to talk about and I appreciated how honest the author was about his journey through the loss of his father. I felt as though he were chatting with me as a friend and the verses and prayers were beautiful. I would recommend this book to anyone going  through grief and those who want to help and understand how grieving really feels.

This book is a beautiful reckoning with grief. The author writes about dealing with the passing of his father, with whom he has had a close relationship. Dai Woolridge does not offer platitudes, or quick fixes, or a seven-step program for healing. He grapples with the realities of pain, mental health and faith. I loved his creative and honest prayers, even if I couldn't connect with many of  the "RE: PRAYER" sections of the book where he writes responses to his prayers from God. I like that he included his wife's perspective in the last chapter, in which she talks about the very complex grieving process of those who walk beside grievers.