When God Lets You Down: Trusting Again After Pain and Loss, By Alex Gee

When God Lets You Down

Trusting Again After Pain and Loss

by Alex Gee

When God Lets You Down
paperback
  • Length: 128 pages
  • Published: October 05, 2006
  • Imprint: IVP
  • Item Code: 3397
  • ISBN: 9780830833979

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"Emergency operator. May I help you?"

"Yes, my name is Alex Gee, my wife is nineteen weeks pregnant and I think her water just broke! This is her second pregnancy, and . . . we lost our first baby just like this . . ."

"Sir? Hello? Sir? Try to stay calm. Who is your wife's OB/GYN?"

"It's Dr. Koller! Uh . . . My wife is losing more fluid . . . Hurry!"

Oh God, this isn't happening again. I can't handle another loss like this. Let this be a dream! Please let this be a dream!

Have you ever felt like God has let you down just when you needed him most? For Alex Gee it was the loss of his second child at birth. For others it is death, divorce, financial ruin, physical disability or a host of other trials we face in the world.

In these moments of crisis our view of God is challenged and our faith is shaken. With refreshing candor in this book Alex Gee offers true companionship--though not easy answers--as you search for the way to hope.

"This book offers a rich invitation to walk with Alex and Jackie on their own painful road to Emmaus. Here one discovers afresh the God whose nature is steadfast love and whose abiding presence redeems our sorrows and transforms us more into the likeness of Christ. Alex insightfully wields Scripture to refine expectations and realign trust in the One who will never leave us nor forsake us. One sees in Alex's and Jackie's parental passion a profound vision of the fatherly and motherly heart of God."

Kerry Dearborn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Theology, Seattle Pacific University

"When God Lets You Down addresses a subject that few Christians dare approach--profound anger and disappointment with God. Alex takes us on an intimate heartbreaking journey with him that encourages readers to know that their honest expression of anger with God is the beginning of their healing process. Gripping . . . brutally honest account of how this man wrestled God for his faith."

Dr. Ronn Elmore, relational psychotherapist, and author of How to Love a Black Man and Outrageous Commitment

"This is not a story for people who like easy answers or quick fixes. But I can testify to the fact that it is a true story. It is the story of a 'man of God' who almost ceased to be one--and whose life was changed forever, by the God whom he nearly abandoned. And it is a story still being written."

From the foreword by Stephen A. Hayner, Peachtree Associate Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth, Columbia Theological Seminary, and former President of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA

"Alex Gee is a pastor, activist and writer whose writing nourishes the soul. He is a man whose vital faith honors the complexity of life while never evading the bracing simplicity of the gospel challenge. He is a Christian whose convictions have been made manifest in countless works of community building that strengthen the weakest among us and throw bridges across our divides. And he is a writer who does not exhort but models--revealing his own struggles, sufferings, weaknesses and failures, all the while testifying to the tenacity of God's grace. I know your life will be enriched, as mine has been, by Alex's life and work through this probing and faith-filled book."

Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak and A Hidden Wholeness

This little book is devoid of self-pity, instead offering the reader a way to trust God in our darkest hours.

Jason Santos, Journal of Student Ministries, March/April 2007
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CONTENTS

Foreword by Stephen Hayner
Preface

Section 1: Abandoned by God
1. Dialing 911
2. Are You There, God?
3. Children Are a Gift from the Lord
4. A Message from Jackie Gee

Section 2: Who is God Really?
5. A Moment of Truth
6. Is This God's Wrath?
7. The Radical Truth About God's Love
8. Myths We Choose to Believe About God
9. What's All the Hype About Grace If I Still Have to Suffer?

Section 4: A Method to God's Madness
10. What God Does with the Bad Stuff
11. Faith, Fragments and Fire
12. I Can See Clearly Now
13. My Tribute

Afterword: Rest in Peace, Victoria and Alexis
Acknowledgments

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Alex Gee

Alex Gee believes that evangelism can be flavorful, soulful, and fun. His passion in life is helping others find their passion. His dynamic style communicates his love of God, motivating and encouraging others. He is the pastor of Fountain of Life Family Worship Center and president and founder of faith-based Nehemiah Community Development Corporation, both in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1994, he received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award.