I thought this book looked really great from the description and I wasn't disappointed. Kay Arthur's As Silver Refined: Answers to Life's Disappointments is a well written book. There are 15 chapters and a 13 week bible study included in the back of the book that can be done on your own or with a group.
I have had many disappointments in my life and I'm sure you have too. Life can be full of them! It is all in how we handle those disappointments that determines whether we will experience joy or failure. Kay Arthur discusses the 5 Deadly D's: disappointment, discouragement, dejection, despair, and demoralization. She writes, "Together they form a downward spiral of deepening defeat and disorder. They're part of a devastating plunge that's triggered when we respond wrongly to the disappointments that God in His loving sovereignty allows in our lives." (pg. 13)
Kay also writes, "The downward spiral begins...with disappointment. Disappointment comes when our expectations aren't met. Consequently we're not happy about it--we're disturbed. When this happens and we don't conquer that disappointment in God's way, then we spin downward into discouragement. We're without courage. We want to give up... And what follows discouragement? Depression in its various degrees. The first 'degree' of depression is dejection--a lowness of spirit, a feeling of spiritual and emotional fatigue. If not reversed this dejection takes us down even further, plunging us into despair and finally into utter demoralization. At this stage of descent, hope is entirely abandoned and is replaced by apathy and numbness. Fear becomes overwhelming and paralyzing and can degenerate further into disorder and reckless action that is heedless of consequences." (pg. 13) This paragraph really touched me...maybe because I have lived it. I wrongly responding to a life situation that God allowed (my brother's death) and I experienced that spiraling downward to depression. She describes it well..."hope is abandoned...Fear becomes overwhelming and paralyzing..."
This book points you to the only source of victory over this overwhelming defeat....the Bible, Christ Jesus. If you have been struggling like me through situations where you've had the wrong response, this is a great book for you.
You can read the first chapter below.
***I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for this honest review.
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