Dying children, incurable cancers, irreparable brain injuries. Trying to help, praying for hope, dealing with doubt. This was neurosurgeon Dr. Lee Warren’s day and his ministry.

Dr. Warren reveals his inner thoughts as he asked himself how to pray for his patients and offer hope when he knew the end result, death. When he emailed Philip Yancey asking him how to “handle telling a patient to have faith when I don’t?” Yancey emailed him and told him to “write his way through understanding the issue” (p. 28). This book is the result of Dr. Warren’s journey.

Dr. Warren becomes vulnerable as he tells the heart-wrenching stories of some of his patients. He thought that he knew the end result, the end of them. Yet, he found that they all left legacies in his life.

All Dr. Lee Warren's patients left legacies in his life. What legacy are you leaving in the lives of others? Click To Tweet

As he struggled with his faith and his doubt, God orchestrated divine appointments that helped him understand that “survivors (even if they perish), … have a prism – faith – that allows them to see through the pain and hardship to the hope and purpose and beauty in their lives” (p. 251).

Although Dr. Warren deals with a difficult subject, the book is so beautifully written and filled with hope, that readers will not want to put the book down.

Readers will recognize themselves in the faith that gives them hope, and the doubt that clouds that hope.

This is a book that I will refer to as I strive to offer hope to my Christian sisters when they are dealing with disappointment, doubt, and suffering.

“Faith aligns what you think you’re seeing with reality. It shifts your focus from the problem to the promise”
(p. 254).

My prayer

Father, thank You for Dr. Warren’s honest and vulnerable look at suffering and death. You used his patients to strengthen his understanding and faith, so that he could genuinely give hope to his patients and to his readers. Bless Dr. Warren and his wife, Lisa. Use this book to minister to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

About Dr. Warren

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review.