The Life We Never Expected ~ A FlyBy Productions Book Review

By Andrew and Rachel Wilson, Foreword by Russell D. Moore

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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I am so glad to have had the opportunity to review this book. I am not the parent of a child with special needs, but I really appreciated the perspective shift that I received. No matter what we face in our lives, we should always treasure and protect our "God Perspective."

AUTHOR

Andrew and Rachel Wilson are the authors of The Life We Never Expected: Hopeful Reflections on the Challenges of Parenting Children with Special Needs and have two children, Zeke and Anna. Andrew is the teaching pastor at King's Church London and a columnist for Christianity Today.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sometimes life throws you a curveball.

Andrew and Rachel Wilson know what it means to live a life they never expected. As the parents of two children with special needs, their story mingles deep pain with deep joy in unexpected places. With raw honesty, they share about the challenges they face on a daily basis—all the while teaching what it means to weep, worship, wait, and hope in the Lord. Offering encouragement rooted in God's Word, this book will help you cling to Jesus and fight for joy when faced with a life you never expected.

They share a story at the beginning of the book about an orange. Imagine you are with a group of friends at a restaurant and you have enjoyed a decent meal and are getting ready to think about dessert. Just then one of your friends taps his glass with your fork, and the wait staff begins bringing out a dessert to everyone that was handpicked by your gracious friend. Each person at the table is given a beautifully wrapped orb with a bow on top, and you each anxiously begin unwrapping them to see what it is. You see that everyone around you has opened up their gift to find a chocolate orange. Twenty segments of rich, smooth, lightly flavored milk chocolate - a perfect way to end the meal. However, when you unwrap your beautiful little package, you find an actual orange. Eleven segments of juicy, messy and awkward to eat fruit...not chocolate at all. The worst part is  that the rest of the table hasn't even noticed because they are too busy enjoying their chocolate! "In fact, looking at the scenario from a number of perspectives - medical, dietary, environmental - you have actually been given a better dessert than everyone else. And you didn't have the right to be given anything anyway. But your heart sinks just the same. An orange was not what you expected...Discovering your kids have special needs is like that."

Andrew and Rachel share openly about their five strategies for processing the unexpected: weeping, worshiping, waiting, witnessing, and breathe. Sometimes we try to keep ourselves from experiencing any feelings, or we get stuck in the weeping stage. They share...."It's only when I find my place in the giant story that God is writing and come to terms with its twists and turns that I can lean back in the knowledge that it is my Father's job to redeem, or make right, all things - not only in our nuclear family but in every single thing that the curse of sin has touched or tarnished."

MY BOTTOM LINE

This book is good for just about anyone. Although they write from a place of sharing their story regarding life with special needs, their story goes beyond it. They share their story with sincere transparency and speak to the exhaustion and heartache that some of you are dealing with as you live life with special needs children. I found that this book also speaks to grief, disillusionment and sadness. As you read this book, you will find wisdom in the pages you knowing that they understand pain.The Wilson's find their peace and contentment in Christ and challenge us as readers to do the same.

The biggest take-away that I got from this book is to put my hope and trust in God through it all. We are to surrender everything to Christ and know that whatever place we find ourselves in, God is right there with us!

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