It begins where all good theology begins -- with the story of our lives. In this case, it begins with Gifford's story of a newly-born daughter with half a skull and an underdeveloped brain exposed. Her little girl lived only 40 minutes. At the end of that 40 minutes, her daughter not only died; Gifford's heart broke into a million pieces. A shattering that left only grief and pain, rage and sorrow in its place.
But Heart Made Whole is more than a story about that sorrow. It's a book about a heart made whole -- about her heart made whole -- in Jesus Christ. She shares how she took abuse, addiction, an eating disorder, and other painful issues to Christ and how she developed an intimate connection with him. That connection brought healing and hope.
This is one of those books that no one whose life is a mess, who feels that aches and pains of a broken life, should miss. The story becomes the story of the Gospel in real life -- a comfort and a transformation of pain into life.
There are some important take-aways here:
- Bad stuff isn't okay. It's not "God's plan". God cries and rages with us over the brokenness.
- Pain isn't bad. It simply tells us the condition of our human heart.
- Self-hatred comes when that human heart is at war with itself, when it knows no peace.
- Our job is not to heal that brokenness. That's what Jesus does.
- Life is a gift in which we are meant to experience the deep love of God.
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