Along Came Hell, or So I Thought Lois Young chronicles her journey to a life of peace and contentment from what she considered hell on earth in this compelling memoir about trusting God through life’s darkest days.
After 44 years of marriage, Lois Young’s husband—a respected leader in their church of 30 years—was convicted of a felony for child molestation and sentenced to ten years in prison. In this deeply inspirational memoir, Young shares how she believed “this is hell” but through patient faith and obedience to God she arrived “at a point of contentment in [her] life.”
With transparent and vulnerable honesty, Young shares the inner thoughts of a woman whose life was suddenly blown up by circumstances beyond her control. She freely admits her shortcomings and challenges: like feeling alone in a room full of people, depression, self-pity, and an odd inability to feel emotions.
With beautifully illustrative personal stories, she shows readers the faithfulness of God to bring her through each struggle, helping her slowly “molt” away wrong thinking. It took over a decade, but Young rejoices that “what seemed impossible to me was indeed possible for God.”
For a woman who struggled to feel emotions of any kind, Young beautifully captures every high, low, twist and turn of the emotional roller coaster she was on. She writes with a deep, poetic beauty and keen sensitivity to the essential elements of her story. While her awe of God and proof of his life-changing power are clear throughout, Young’s mere vulnerable humanness has a power of its own to plant a seed of hope inside hearts hardened by life’s pain.
An excess of typographical errors as well as a section where her husband’s name changes from Ed to Gary mar the book’s polished professional presentation, but Young’s ability as a writer and storyteller make these glitches forgivable.
Anyone walking through the aftermath of betrayal will find this inspiring, encouraging and worth sharing with others.
Also available as an ebook.
BlueInk Heads-Up: This Star is awarded with the acknowledgement that copyediting errors remain in need of attention.
