This little book by a Methodist local preacher and counsellor is about hope in the midst of suffering and has an opening message which 'is horrifically clear. There is no hope until we can confront our deadness - the deadness of our lives, the deadness of our society - and let it speak to us.'

The author looks at the stark picture which confronted Ezekiel regarding 'the valley of the dead bones' and wants you to get a mental picture of the human horrors that have happened in the world we live in: emaciated corpses of Nazi Germany; killing fields of Cambodia; parts of Africa and Asia where people starve; or, nearer to home, the Dunblane disaster where so many lives were lost.

She looks at the character of Ezekiel as he is compelled to walk up and down through the desolation of the bones. We ourselves can turn away from the pain of the world, and even from our own pain, in desperation not wanting to deal with the enormity of our situation. Then in the midst of the horror and pain God asks the question 'can these bones live?'

The book opens us up to looking at our pain and bringing the wonderful hope of our Lord Jesus into the situation, if we will let him in. It looks at our personal relationship with the Lord. Do we have the relationship the Lord intended us to have?

The author looks at the biblical character of David and his struggles with Goliath, bringing to mind the human pain and difficulties we read of in the Bible.

I found while reading this book that I felt comforted, encouraged and peaceful. The prayers and poems were pleasing to my spirit. As a counsellor I would best see this book as a help to people in prayer ministry, to be used in conjunction with prayer for the team to have a better understanding of human pain and emotions. For me personally I would not see this as a book to help me gain more understanding of human or biblical suffering.

I agree totally with the comment by Revd Dr Leslie Griffiths that this book 'takes a serious look at human tears and . . . shows how they can be windows of hope'.

Reviewed by
Yvonne Shaw
(Counsellor and Trainer with Barnabas Training Consortium, Brentwood)