This is a thoughtful, compassionate guide for those who are healing from trauma or are companioning others on their healing journey. I enjoyed the framework DeGroat created with the use of 3 of God’s questions that were directed at Adam and Eve in Genesis, which he develops through a trauma-informed lens. The personal stories DeGroat includes are engaging and vulnerable invitations for readers to explore our own tender, wounded areas in the light of God’s compassion, curiosity, and healing. The reflection questions and practices at the end of each chapter would be perfect for book clubs to explore together. This book is informative, accessible, practical, and reads like a gentle invitation into the hard but beautiful work of healing.

A memoir, a wise compassionate guide and an invitation to live life fully

From the opening story, Chuck is vulnerable, open, and honest. His real life examples connect to heart ache, grief and loss every person knows, but may not readily admit. Chuck invites us to befriend all these feelings with a view toward a God directed hope that will ultimately heal and restore. I've read it once. I hope to read it again with friends and fellow pilgrims.

This book is for everyone! I wanted to read this book to help others who were struggling with hurts. Little did I know that I would need this book. So often we think we have set aside a hurt or maybe even think we forgave the person so it is done. Sometimes if we haven’t truly dealt with why we were hurt or offended it will come back up again and usually with more fierceness. This book will help you identify those and deal with them in a way that gets to the root. The best part is there are resources listed at the end of each chapter, many of them are ones referenced in the reading. At the end of each chapter there are reflection questions to help you go deeper and there are practice ideas for you to “move” forward.
This book is reader friendly with practical stories paired with Biblical principles and insight from Chuck’s many years of experience. If you have been hurt, hurt someone, watched someone be hurt, want to help someone hurting, or maybe you want another tool for your tool belt in working with others, this is a book you should get!!

Chuck DeGroat has been one of my favorite writers, as he integrates his experience as a therapist, professor, and minister so beautifully and thoughtfully. Each book of his I’ve read is full of wisdom and highly commendable. But Healing What’s Within felt unique from all the others, because Chuck doesn’t just write about the wounds and pain we carry East of Eden abstractly, or simply as an expert therapist or theologian. He bravely and vulnerably invites us into his own wounds, as he shares real life stories of longing and heartbreak, disconnection and feeling lost in his own dark night of the soul. That vulnerability made his invitation to shift our focus from the pain of what has happened to us to healing the trauma of what’s within us so much more compelling. He writes as a fellow traveler and companion in the wilderness, who knows what it means to be wounded, alienated, and far from home. He can be trusted as a genuine guide, who knows the painful and difficult road of healing what’s within. Chuck also leads us to the compassionate heart of God, who invites us to be truly known. He frames this book through God’s three questions in Genesis 3: Where are you? Who told you? Did you eat from the tree? Rather than to berate us, Chuck reveals the deep wisdom and loving heart of God in these questions, and how he invites and pursues us in our pain to return home to ourselves and to God.

One of the most tangibly helpful elements of this book to me is the reflection section in each chapter. Chuck offers poignant questions and opportunities to engage one’s own inner life, nervous system, story, addictions, and longings. As well, he leaves us with tangible practices like contemplative prayer to come back to our center, befriending our suffering, greeting and engaging all parts of ourselves with compassion, lighting three candles to honor our suffering, and much more. This is a book to marinate in slowly, as the longer I sat with a practice and chapter the more I would sense its inner wisdom and depth. Healing’s What’s Within is a book I will return to again and again. Thank you so much for this labor of love, Chuck!

I have lots of highlights and notes. I see this being especially helpful for pastors or those who work in ministry, as he shares his story of his hurt and healing with the church. However, found some helpful information and encouragement in this book!

I found the additional resources and reflections questions at the end of each chapter helpful and found a few recommendations I will need to look into for further reading.

He is honest, healing isn't easy, not some 3-step plan, but often takes much more work and faith. He used the three questions God asked in Genesis to Adam and Eve. (Where are you, Who told you, and have you eaten from the tree?) Which is about God inviting us in, encouraging us, helping us decipher, and addressing our hearts.

If you are or you know someone you know is dealing with some trauma, let this book remind you whom to turn to and what Scripture has to say.

With unforgettable stories, deep wisdom, and tender care, this book invites readers into an intimate and powerful conversation with both God and their own hearts. It guides them toward interior freedom, healing, and peace. If you’ve experienced adverse religious situations or spiritual abuse, this book serves as an excellent companion on the path to healing.

Healing What's Within is an exquisitely written book by Chuck DeGroat, blending therapeutic tools of psychology and theology into a masterfully written book on healing. Pointing the reader back to God, the source of all compassion and hope, Chuck divides the book into three major sections based on the story of Genesis 3. God compassionately says to Adam and Eve "Where Are You?", "Who Told You?", and "Have You Eaten from the Tree?" and Chuck uses this approach to touch upon the healing process of suffering, listening, and guiding us to where (and who) we should take our hunger and longings. In Part One, ‘Where are you?’ God is inviting us to see just how lost, alone, and alienated we’ve become and encourages us to come out of hiding. In Part Two, ‘Who told you?’ God invites us to reflect on the story of that original wound in the Garden of Eden, and the deceptive practices of the evil one. Finally, in Part Three, ‘Have you eaten from the tree?’ God is inviting us to explore how we, through our own futile but fervent efforts, try to address the deep hunger of our hearts. Throughout the book, Chuck brings clarity, wisdom, and personalized stories to share how areas of hiddenness, shame, fear, and trauma can over-take our desire for total surrender to God, as we act in self-reliance or on our human strength. God desires restoration and unity among his children, and healing and hope for all. By drawing us closer to the Lord and walking in obedience to His direction and guidance in our lives, we can learn how to heal our wounds. As Chuck says, as we find ourselves weary, wounded, and wandering, may we recall these three questions asked from God that invite us on a journey of healing what's within. Thank you to NetGalley and Tyndale House Publishers for the advanced review copy of this incredible book. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

I'm very impressed with this book! I found it when I needed it most!
Recently I experienced a complete burn out (about 4 months ago). I like the character Erin in this book was running on empty but still giving everything I had to my family and home. I was working full time coming home, cleaning, cooking and buzzing with busy. I tried getting my family to see that I needed help around the house but nothing was getting through to them. Until one day my boss pushed me to run more than double the amount of freight I normally did. We also had a loss of a family member on my husband's side of the family. Grief has a way of coming in waves I've noticed. When I was most overwhelmed and suddenly hit with a big wave I forgot how to swim and everything in my body locked up and said this is too much. I ended up leaving my job and have been trying to heal with a therapist.
I found this book as I was searching for books on healing. I had not heard of Chuck DeGroat before. Chuck has written this book in both a religious manner but makes it very relatable and personal as well. I really like how the book flows together. I like the questions at the end of each chapter and the practices he provides. I also like that he's included other books I plan to read to dig deeper into healing. I plan on rereading a lot of this book and breaking it down into things I can do or read daily to grow stronger. I think very highly of Chuck and his counseling. I'm not a member of his congregation or a patient. I am however planning to follow his work and learn more from him. I find points in this book to be spot on and verses he uses gives both comfort and reminds me that God is near always. I'm so grateful for this book!!!

This book I really really recommend to all of you, who just like me, cannot move on from the hurtful attitude from someone else. We can heal from hurt and not just trapped in the hurtful past.