Contact:
Robin Geelhoed, (616) 698-3345 [P], robin.geelhoed@zondervan.com
New book shares raw emotional journey through the diagnosis and loss of a loved one
Grand Rapids, Mich., August 7, 2009 – In her newest book, The God of All Comfort: Finding Your Way into His Arms (September 2009), bestselling author and speaker Dee Brestin shares the details of her late husband’s battle with and eventual death from colon cancer. The God of All Comfort is designed to “help people in pain learn how to get through the icy river of grief and into the arms of God by learning how to pray the psalms of lament and sing the hymns inspired by those laments,” says Brestin.
Writing as someone who truly understands the questions, anger and seemingly insurmountable grief that accompanies the trials or death of a loved one, Brestin offers honest, sensitive insights to readers who are suffering, as well as to those who are unsure how to bring comfort. She discourages the easy answers frequently offered to the hurting and instead, encourages “sitting shiva” when you mourn with them. “You listen, you respond briefly, you pray briefly and you don’t try to fix it,” Brestin writes.
Brestin tells her own story of grief and recovery with stark honesty and undefiled hope. She describes her and her family’s innermost thoughts through the past few years, and readers will feel deeply privileged to share a glimpse into such a sacred and raw personal experience. The Brestin family’s personal venture through the deep sea of grief will inspire, comfort and challenge readers.
Each chapter concludes with reflections for personal or small group study, as well as a corresponding hymn, making this an excellent book choice for those looking for a beacon of hope in the midst of a very black night.
Classic hymns were extremely important to Brestin after her husband’s death. She tells how she sang Be Still My Soul to her anxious soul nearly every night for two years after her husband died. “The scriptural truths in that song were a lifeline to me, as they have been to so many saints in the past.”
Comforted by the wisdom found in classic hymns, Brestin partners with musician and harpist Amy Shreve to share the secrets she learned during her journey through grief. Brestin will appear with Shreve on several stops of her national tour promoting her new CD. The CD features 10 classic hymns performed by Shreve and is also titled The God of All Comfort. It will be included in the companion Bible study guide for Brestin’s book that will release in January 2010.
Dee Brestin is a writer, speaker, and teacher. Her book, The Friendships of Women has sold over a million copies and released this July in a 20th Anniversary Edition. Falling in Love with Jesus has sold over 400,000 units. Dee has written twenty Bible studies, the first of which, Proverbs and Parables, has been in print for over thirty years. She is a frequent guest on Moody Radio and Focus on the Family; and also speaks to twenty large women’s conferences yearly. Dee is a graduate of Northwestern University and has studied with Covenant Seminary in St Louis. She is a member of a Presbyterian church (PCA), but speaks to all Christian denominations. She is the mother of five grown children and lives in Wisconsin and Missouri.
About The Book:
The God of All Comfort: Finding Your Way into His Arms
By Dee Brestin
Zondervan
9780310293613
272 Pages
$16.99
Hardcover
PUB DATE: September 2009
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