Jacky Connell. CreateSpace, 2018. 135 pp. (Paperback).
Show of hands: How many (besides me) thought this was a book about drug addiction? I thought so! Even though the book really isn’t about drugs, there is a clear parallel. The author points out that when we run from something (pain) in our lives, we always run to something else. That is often drugs, but drugs are not the only painkillers people turn to in an attempt to escape emotional pain. The book deals with seven of those painkillers, from isolation to inappropriate relationships to an independent spirit.
The bulk of the book consists of descriptions of these unhealthy painkillers, along with examples of people in the Bible who used them to escape their pain, and sound counsel for the one who has become entrapped. Connell is careful not to provide simplistic, pat solutions — he recognizes that “healing deep emotional pain just isn’t that simple or easy.”
Connell is pastor at Eden Westside Baptist Church, Pell City, in St. Clair Baptist Association.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Martine Bates Fairbanks, Ed.D., reviews books and Bible studies for The Alabama Baptist. She is a university professor and retired principal. She is a member of Central Baptist Church, Decatur.
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