Life with a Limp: Discovering God's Purpose in Your Pain
Everybody walks with a limp. Some may hide their limp better than others. Nevertheless, the limp is there. From cradle to casket, we sooner or later encounter physical, mental, or emotional pain. Suffering is no respecter of persons.
While suffering afflicts our bodies and emotions, the problem of suffering afflicts the mind. When confronted by tragedy, one may ask: How can I survive this pain?
But eventually, the more abstract questions occupy the mind: Why did God let this happen? How can I trust a God who would let my child die?
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In Life with a Limp, I offer a robust, biblical reflection on these and other questions such as:
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How do I handle my grief?
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How can I grow through suffering?
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How do I reconcile suffering with belief in an all-good God?
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Do all things really work together for good for those who love God?
This book is a book for “limpers” by one who limps. Throughout, I share my story of limping through doubt, loss, and grief following the death of my firstborn son. But more importantly, I explore how our limp in life can help us grow more in love with our suffering Savior.
Through their patience and prayers, my family members have participated in the writing of this book. My adult children, Rebecca Blumhardt, Mary Lynne McCulloch, and Justin Stevens, have inspired me with their persevering faith in the face of loss and doubt. My wife, Mary Alice, has been my closest companion in grief. As I have written, we have wept . . . and worshipped.
Life with a Limp (Vide Press) is scheduled to be published by June 15, 2022 and will be available on Amazon and at major online bookstores.
What Others are Saying
In Life with a Limp: Discovering God’s Purpose in Your Pain, Dr. Stevens provides biblical, pastoral, and personal reflections to instruct and comfort us as we journey through the night of pain and suffering into the daybreak of hope . . . As your tour guide, David keeps his eye on Jesus as the north star as you go from chapter through chapter of the grieving process until the break of day.
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Paul Louis Metzger, PhD
Professor of Christian Theology & Theology of Culture
Multnomah Biblical Seminary/Multnomah University
How can a loving God tolerate rampant injustice in so many areas of our beautiful but savage world and still expect us to love and trust him? With solid biblical theology, the author carefully navigates the common and a few uncommon theological and psychological perspectives. This book can serve as devotional reading, or in pastoral or therapeutic counseling, especially for grieving parents.
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Dr. Lois Svoboda, M.D.
Physician and Marriage & Family Therapist
Birthed in ongoing grief, this personal immersion in Scripture, theology and experience will provide pastoral comfort to any in pain and anguish. David Stevens takes the reader to the philosophical edge of a God limited by human choices and actions. And yet divine providence in both purpose and process finally prevails. Valuable exegeses of relevant Scriptures filled with powerful illustrations from history, geography and literature will strengthen any soul.
Read it slowly, humbly, and eagerly.
Ramesh Richard PhD, ThD
President, RREACH|Professor, Dallas Theological Seminary
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