In den letzten Wochen habe ich drei Bücher des Seelsorgers David Powlison gelesen und rezensiert. Es ist der David, den ich schon persönlich treffen durfte: Feinfühlig, väterlich, ungeheuer ehrlich. Ich kann die drei Werke dem Leser mit Englischkenntnissen wärmstens empfehlen. Die drei Bücher sind das Kondensat seiner reichen Lebens- und Beratungserfahrung.
Beispielsweise schreibt er über seine über 5-jährige Leidenszeit nach seiner Herz-OP:
From 2000 to 2006, I inhabited a body that did not work. I had no resilience. I did not bounce back from normal fatigue. I was on a downward spiral of shattering weariness and increasing disability, unable to sustain normal social life and ministry life. I liken those years of cumulative losses to living through a slow-motion building collapse. Only family, a handful of friendships, and writing remained fruitful. I had to count the cost of every social interaction. Teaching was an ordeal—I could just make it through a semester. I love counseling, but it was too wearing—and I had to stop. … My experience over five and a half years was the genesis of the book you are reading. It took its basic shape and tone toward the end of those years—at a time when the cause of my fatigue was still mysterious, and when I had no earthly hope that my condition would ever improve. My life was withering.
Sehr eindrücklich beschreibt er seine Gewohnheit bei jedem Wetter nach draussen zu gehen:
I cannot express how often God’s creation proved sustaining, refreshing, and sanctifying. In all seasons and weathers I went outside and walked. I noticed the flight of a goldfinch, snow on the stones in the brook, a field of white dogwoods in bloom, a thunderstorm rising in the west, maple leaves like fire in the fall. I was repeatedly drawn out onto a bigger stage than my troubles. I would pray my need and my gratitude out loud while walking.
David Powlison. God's Grace in Your Suffering. (86-89)
Die drei Rezensionen (mit Bitte um eure Likes, wenn sie euch geholfen haben):
- Sanctification – How Does it Work?
- Making All Things New: Restoring Joy to the Sexually Broken
- God's Grace in Your Suffering.
Zudem: Ein Seelsorger über Motive sexueller Sünden und subtile Formen des Kampfes
