Author, speaker and business consultant Wayne Hastings offers readers alternatives to today’s popular coping mechanisms to surviving losses of all kinds. Hastings is the Resource Pastor for Grace Chapel in Leiper's Fork, TN and President of the Wayne Hastings Company. He will help guide individuals through the various stages of loss with this powerful, truth-expounding devotional that does more than simply come alongside the hurting. Each essay offers both inspirational and practical tools for working through the pain.

"From the first page to the final paragraph, Christ followers, as well as those not of any particular faith, will discover lasting value and abundant food for thought in this lovely devotional."

Hastings provides folks with everything they require to address their losses, whether they are of the relational, financial, vocational, physical, emotional or spiritual type. He has divided this work into five sections: 1) finding peace in the storm; 2) trusting God; 3) throwing off hindrances; 4) choosing growth and hope; and 5) learning to walk again. Each of these 60 devotionals includes pithy, powerful quotations by past and present personages. Bible verses that hone in on the topic discussed are followed by essays that bring to life through vivid storytelling the specific lesson topic. Closing out each devotional is a brief Insight that capsulates the message; a short Prayer that condenses the heart’s cry for help; and Life Choices, which include Bible readings to study, some pertinent takeaway questions, and a challenge to get active in applying what has been shared.

Under each section heading, readers will find numerous and very specific subjects to read through and slowly digest in their quest for healing from loss. Especially helpful is Hastings’s section on Throwing Off Hindrances, where he writes on the most common ways folks slip up (and fall back) during their healing process. First, he addresses power stealers; don’t look ahead: needless worry; tears on the carpet; standing firmly; don’t look back: needless blame; trapped in the wilderness; the pain of regret; the complaining heart; the cloud of negative thinking; losing what binds; stuck in the middle; and leaning, not slumping.

As Hastings reminds his readers, loss comes in all shapes and sizes, and the healing process itself will very likely resemble the same. Everyone is different in the rate at which they heal; even the process through which they overcome their losses will be unique to them. Hastings is warm, witty, and intersperses his wise counsel with lots of stories from well-known biblical characters. He spotlights each one’s humanity --- the good, the bad and the ugly --- so that readers are reminded that everyone is the same on the inside.

From the first page to the final paragraph, Christ followers, as well as those not of any particular faith, will discover lasting value and abundant food for thought in this lovely devotional. Readers will find themselves returning time and again to the stories, verses and takeaway applications, and close the text feeling more grounded, peaceful and whole.