Silent Resolve and the God Who Let Me Down

We all remember (at least those of us who were alive that day) where we were and what we were doing on 9-11, but I have not had the privilege of knowing the intimate story of one of the survivors of that event until I read this book. I’ve never talked with or read the story of anyone so profoundly affected by that day as Susan was. Losing her father on 9-11 punched a hole in her heart that could not be filled. As a Christian, she knew she could not “blame God” and that was what she struggled with as she lived out her next few years in a sort-of double life, managing to be “okay” on the outside but swallowed by grief and anger at God on the inside. In telling her story of grief and how she reconciled herself to the loss as unbelievably part of God’s plan, she walks us through it step by step. Using quotations not just from the Bible but well-known Christian thinkers and writers, such as Tolkien and Lewis, scattered throughout the text point us to the knowledge that every human deals with this issue; we are not alone, and we need others, often just to sit with us in our grief. Reading Susan’s story, rather than being a “downer,” is an uplifting page-turner."

— ​Barbara