Wounded by God's People by Anne Graham Lotz

Wounded by God's People by Anne Graham Lotz ISBN: 9780310262893 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Zondervan Released: September 3, 2013

Source: Review copy from the publisher through Booksneeze.com.

Book Description, Modified from Booksneeze:
Anne Graham Lotz uses the story of Hagar and stories from her own life to help people move past their wounds and into the joy and fellowship of God’s presence. As Hagar’s story unfolds, readers discover that wounded people often become wounders themselves. Anne knows from experience that wounding is a cycle that needs to be broken and, by God’s grace, it can be. Many have had similar experiences. Wounded by God’s People will help them begin a healing journey.


My Review:
Wounded by God's People is a Christian Living book about forgiving and healing from deep hurts. The target audience seems to be Christians who have been so badly hurt by other Christians that they are deeply bitter and angry and have completely rejected the church or even God.

From the first few pages, I'd expected more of a Bible study with a focus on how we shouldn't reject God based on how God's people act. So I'd expected a focus on what God is like (compared to his people), but the book focused more on how we ought to respond to Christians when they hurt us. There were some points about how God pursued and had plans for Hagar, but the focus of Anne's stories was more on forgiving others and healing.

Each chapter had two main parts: Anne's speculative retelling of the Hagar story and Anne's stories of how she's been hurt and what she found helped her to heal from that hurt. Hagar's story was mainly used to point out the different ways a person might feel when hurt by one of God's people.

The book was generally easy to follow, but I got stuck on things like God being in the darkness and God using hurt to plow us deep so fruit can grow. I didn't really follow how she was getting that from the Bible, but probably I simply wasn't understanding her metaphors.

To be honest, I found The Search for Peace by Robert McGee to be easier to follow and more helpful in leading me to forgive and heal from deep hurts of all kinds. But others might feel that Anne's book speaks to their hearts and touches them where they're at.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.