Hope in the most hopeless of situations has never been harder to come by, then now. I appreciate the way Craig tackles this challenging concept in a way that does not just feel like "church answers". I think this could be a good gift for someone in a difficult season.

Thanks to netgalley for a review copy.

If you are walking a path of darkness, depression, and are looking for help. Hope in the Dark is for you. This is a book that you will come back to. Craig Groeschel uses the tiny book of Habbakkuk to help you see the light in the midst of your darkness. You will learn to wrestle and embrace what God has given you.

The title says it all: This book reminds us of HOPE in our darkest moments and darkest places. When so many people view pastor's as going from glory to glory, Pastor Craig Groeschel digs into the dark moments he has walked through with his family as well as those of family's he has prayed with who have received miracles and those who haven't. He reveals moments of doubt and fear, and why he believes it is okay and right for Christians to experiences those moments, and how to find hope in the dark valleys.
I do not believe that God gives us those trials, but He certainly does use them for the "good of those that love Him." And this book is a timely reminder of that very thing.

If you think God has forgotten you than you have forgotten who God is.

A study of the book Habakkuk in hope. Where God seems far away and remembering the three little words But God.. . Groeschel is more personal with this book than any other. More reflective as he and his family are clinging to the hope of God. As a pastor of a large church, he as experienced the pain and walked along with his congregation as they have suffered from loss, pain, and the aches of life. His own reflection on the book of Habakkuk is his own study of his own pain with health issues that his daughter is experiencing. It can make you question God and his goodness. As Habakkuk questions God why? We can as well. In my own experience, asking why leads us to who God is.

Pain always reveals something about us as well. How we respond to pain. How we respond to others. The doubt we may have and I speak from my own reflection is how do I deal with reality. Do I face it or run from it? How we face it is what Groeschel is teaching and living the reader with helpful insights. One that I found is a journal that he recommended in keeping. A five year journal that you would write for each day and as the years would go by, you would see what God was doing. I have not found this journal but I am very interested in keeping a journal like that.

Groeschel also deals with what to say or not to say when one is suffering. Personally, I have found this difficult because I am one that wants to fix something and to hear that God is sovereign and in control is true but the best thing to do is say I don't know what to say. Many times we avoid others pain because we have not dealt with our pain.

What Groschel brings out in the book of Habakkuk is the doubt we may have on the character of God. Does he love me? Does he know? The 2nd is the waiting. Waiting is learning to trust in God. Trust in his character. To know him more thru his word. And the last is to embrace what God is doing. No matter how painful. In embracing, we know his mercy and grace.

A Special thank you to Zondervan and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

I am so glad I read this book.

I've dealt with my own dark places. It's affected me to this day and not in a good way. I was too young to deal with things well.

Craig Groeschel does it again; writing a book full of hope but writing in a clear, accessible way. I really like his style.

He works through the tiny book of Habakkuk and shows how the same things that Habakkuk was dealing with are what we wrestle with today.

The end point? In all, we end up with "but the Lord". But the Lord is good. I'm still working and wrestling and I still have many doubts and questions. It's nice to be reminded that this is okay. And now I have this book to go back to when I face another valley.

We want to know God, feel his presence, and trust that he hears our prayers. Yet when life's storms toss us around we can end up doubting of God really cares for us. I'm the middle of the storm you need to hear authentic words of understanding and hope. Craig delivers those very words within this book

Even in the dark - God is there

With "Hope in the Dark" the senior pastor of Life.Church Craig Groeschel presents a book for spiritual growth that is aimed toward those who are struggling with God because of life's challenges and for those who are willing to be at the side of somebody who is struggling.
The book is divided in three parts ("Hide and Seek", Lost and Found", and "Hope and Glory"). Every chapter in these parts is started with a quote that relates to the topic treated, e.g. for Chapter 2.3 Wait, he uses a quote from Peter Marshall. "Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work." Groeschel finishes the book with a conclusion and with reflections that take the reader back to the Bible and to the corresponding chapter in his book. In providing questions he challenges the reader to relate the content of the book and the Bible text to the own life.
In the book Groeschel deals with the conviction of many people that God is good when life is not good. He presents personal examples of peoples' struggles even from his own life. He shares the pain of many readers because of the health issues of his daughter and combines his writing with a biblical foundation. This he takes especially from the prophet Habakuk. Groeschel shows that there is no guarantee that life is good and without problems, challenges, sickness, struggles, ... even when one is a Christian. This would be false biblical teaching. He also shows with biblical examples (Job, Jeremiah) that we can come with our struggles to God and encourages the reader to write it down when we hear from God. Groeschel hopes that the reader does not give up to believe in God when hard things happen.

I have appreciated the book very much because there have been situations in my life when "God seemed to be silent". I highly recommend this book for everyone who is dealing with life's struggles and wants to learn more about the fact that God is still there.

The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#HopeInTheDark #NetGalley

In the book Hope In The Dark, pastor and author Craig Groeschel writes about the dark times of life. Using the book of Habakkuk, Groeschel draws us into Habakkuk’s struggle to make sense of God’s plan and purpose during a dark time. Groeschel weaves his own family’s story and people he has walked with through dark times as a pastor, into Habakkuk struggle to understand. He brings encouragement by writing:
“Peaks are nice, but you don’t see many farms on mountaintops. Why? Because things grow better in valleys. Your time in the valley may not be pleasant, but it’s in the valleys of life where you grow closer to God and stronger in your faith.”
I would highly recommend this book. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Groeschel shares the questions he has for God in light of his daughters' current health struggles. As he does, he joins you, the reader in the trenches of pain. Groeschel approaches this topic as one who is currently doing battle too. He's not one who proposes to have all the answers.

It was refreshing to me to see that pastors have the same questions that I do when faced with trials. Hope in the Dark reminds you that God gives hope in the darkest times. Groeschel writes, "when you accept what God is doing, you don't simply stuff your feelings down and let your heart die, even as you're practicing your smile in the mirror and memorizing Bible verses." It's a reminder that we can't do all the "right Christian things" to get us out of our hope. Sometimes we have to feel the emotions and sit in that pain for a while. It's definitely not my favorite place to be. But I have found, as Groeschel suggests, that the ability to sit in the pain and feel it and release it to God helps me to move forward and find healing and hope. 

This is a book I would turn to again to remind me that God provides hope in the dark places. It's a book that gave hope and lightening the load while reading the pages. It helped me find renewal and restoration. If you're in a dark place, this is the book for you.

Using the book of Habakuk and the situations that prophet faced as a base, Groeschel looks at suffering and hard times and how to have hope when it seems like things are hopeless.

Groeschel doesn’t sugar coat anything and is completely honest in sharing his own struggles with faith in the midst of hard times. He also shares other real stories of real people along the way. Life hurts, life can throw you awful curve balls, and sometimes it just feels like God isn’t there. But he encourages readers to be like Habakuk whose name in the original Hebrew means a combination of wrestle and embrace. Wrestle with those doubts, acknowledge them, face them, and embrace God through it. Books on faith in the midst of hard times are tricky. Sometimes people find them to be just the thing they needed, and sometimes they just need to work through things on their own. So I’d be careful about handing this to <i>anyone</i> going through a hard time and experiencing doubts about their faith. I’d say you really need to be sensitive to the person’s needs and the leading of God. I feel kind of bad that I didn’t find this book more amazing to read. It is a really good read, and I definitely appreciate the open and honest and real way Groeschel lays things out in a very readable way. It’s fantastic. But…I just happened to read <i>The Case for Miracles</i> by Strobel just a few months before this book and I was completely blown away by the chapter in his book about unanswered prayer or times when God says no. It was so powerful that it probably wasn’t fair of me to read anything similar within six months. So my advice would be if you find this just ok, go read that chapter of Strobel’s book for something that may be more what you were looking for. If you want a layman’s book on what a Christian should do with doubts and how to proceed in the midst of faith-shaking times, definitely give this a try. It comes from a heartfelt place and I’m sure will be just the thing many, many readers need in their hands.

<i>I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

The book Hope in the Dark is a practical, personal teaching on how to approach trials. It is a very valuable tool for the Christian life. He uses the prophet Habakkuk faced trials as He watched the injustices in his country. He approaches trials in these steps: doubting, waiting, embracing and with God's goodness. He thanks God for who He is first and then thanks Him for all He is doing in His life. God's character ; such as , His faithfulness, sovereignty, kindness, mercifulness, slow to anger,, every present, all knowing, just, holy, loving is what the author tells the reader to focus on during trials. We can count on His qualities in our life even when things are changing and difficult around us. We can look to the Lord God to see us through the storms by viewing the trials through is character which is constant and unchanging. God has used the Innocence Project run by Anthony Graves to overturning legal injustice in our country. In the Bible Job, Lamentations, Jeremiah expressed their doubts and questions to God. We are supposed to bring our questions also to God during our difficult trials and He will show Himself to us. David also had an honest heart about His doubts and questions to God during His trials. We want immediate answers during our times of trials but God does not work this way. He wants us to cling to Him. Philip Yancey said, "Endurance is not just the ability to turn a hard thing but to turn it into glory." We do not have to understand the why of the trials to trust and accept God's means to wrestle , embrace God's heart and intentions. I highly recommend this amazing book for the Christian to know how to make it through the many storms or trials in this life. "I will find my strength in the Lord and reach new heights." Hab 3:19. The book is so rich in truths that you can read it many times to get the many truths in the book for your life. The book was given to me by netgalley to read and review the book before it is released. Thank you for this opportunity and thank you again to the publisher for giving me the opportunity.

There are no good answers to why bad things happen to good people, but “Hope in the Dark” may be the best attempt I’ve ever read. This book is honest, sometimes painfully so. The truth is we don’t want to hear that bad things are going to come, but Groeschel’s honest handling of the truth is amazing. He uses Habakkuk to give example after example of how to trust in God even when things aren’t going well. (And I love the book of Habakkuk) I hope everyone who feels like they’re walking in a dark valley will read this book and find the hope Jesus Christ means for us to have! #HopeInTheDark #NetGalley

The subject Groeschel tackles in a well manner.. We need to understand the concept he presents in such a well formatted manner. I will recommend the book.