THE CURE FOR THE CHRONIC LIFE Overcoming the Hopelessness That Holds You Back

Rebecca Gallagher gives an appealingly earnest reading of this Christian guidance manual for combating chronic stress patterns. The authors offer four 10-day “spiritual treatment plans” that are centered on compassion, understanding, responding, and encouragement—strategies based on the ideas that love, self-honesty, and community are necessary foundations for resisting stress and the temptations of modern life. With examples from the Bible and thought-provoking questions, they describe seven sources of chronic stress: meaningless relationships, the accumulation of mental and emotional garbage, misguided priorities, false idols, issues with humility, addictions, and misguided community engagements. Framing stress in these clusters will help listeners see that even pervasive stress patterns can be shaken off if they focus on God’s grace and look for His intentions when life threatens their equilibrium. T.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2011]