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The Beautiful Ache: Finding the God Who Satisfies When Life Does Not

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What is the beautiful ache? In her book, Leigh McLeroy defines it as "that fleeting pang that reminds us of home. Not the home we've always known--the home we've never seen. The ache pierces and pries open the heart but doesn't nearly satisfy it. It whets the appetite but doesn't begin to fill it."

She elaborates on common desires and their corresponding hardships by weaving together personal stories and Biblical narratives. Each chapter highlights a specific area. The need for belonging, the difficulty of trusting, the hardship of labor, and the pain of grief are just a few of the topics covered.

These insightful and devotion-like thoughts challenge, find humor and move to tears. Her mature and balanced perspective is especially evident in "The Ache for Healing." She uses a John Piper quote to make her point: "It is fitting that a child ask his father for relief in trouble. And it is fitting that a loving father give His child only what is best. And that he always does: sometimes healing now, sometimes not. But always, always, what is best for us."

Though this is not a book directed towards single people, I appreciated her perspective, as a single person, in the area of relationships. It's heartbreaking to see, from a woman's point of view, the unfulfilled desire for lifelong companionship. In the "Ache of Expecting" she reflects on the advice given by a friend. "It is no small gift to find another who is like you and whose presence is so comforting and right that even the most ordinary moments are enriched by it. Better still is when that one whose presence is life-giving to you comes and means to stay. Emmanuel. God like us. God with us. Forever."

McLeroy recognizes that longing can enrich our lives. "This is the now and the not yet. Because here we taste only a little of the treasure that is ours. Because it's the very longing that makes the eventual receiving truly sweet." Though waiting can be hard, this book finds beauty in it as it points to better things, those that are eternal.

I finished reading this book hopeful about my own story, not because of anything in myself, but because of "the ultimate goodness of the Storyteller". I've already passed along copies to family and friends for their encouragement. I look forward to reading it again!

This book struck so many chords and answered so many questions in my life: Why aren't my heart's desires God's desires for me? How can we listen for God's voice and hear it in everyday, ordinary non-coincidences? How can I relate my faith to others in a more meaningful way? Leigh answers all these questions and more. Most of all, she is not afraid to let her personal experiences speak loudly of her faith, even if they represent the disappointments/embarrassments/failures most of us have trouble talking about, much less writing about. Buy this book for yourself and for your friends. They will thank you.

I'm reviewing this book right now for Windsor Crossing. The subtitle says "finding the God who satisfies when life does not." I didn't expect it to be any good. I've found that I do not like most authors and most books. The last one I reviewed was certainly a matte-laminated-clad horror. However, Leigh McLeroy is a surprisingly good writer. And one part of the book in particular has stopped me cold.

She talks about how as a 7-year-old the first thing she ever bought with her own money was a book she picked out (for the cover) called "Beautiful Joe." It was the story of a dog who suffered untold abuse and was only beautiful to one person... and it was his struggle to find his way back to that one person who actually found him beautiful. McLeroy talks about how she wept as a little kid over this dog in a book, but it never once occurred to her to just "check out"... to put the book down and quit reading it because it was too sad or painful. She was in it to win it and determined to hope beyond hope that Joe would find his way back home.

Then she talks about a parallel to Abraham and Isaac... how God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, whom he loved. She writes about wondering what Abraham's sleepless prayers were like that night. Did he beg God to kill Isaac in his sleep so that he wouldn't have to follow through? Did he beg God to change his mind that night? What must have been going through his head?


God, of course, provided the ram, and the story ended happily enough (no word on the costs of therapy for Isaac). But McLeroy points out something astonishing to me: NEVER does it say in the text that Abraham checked out of the story, emotionally. Never does it say that he tried to diminish the beauty of the gift in order to abate the pain at its departure. He never said, "Well, Isaac's not really that great of a son. I could do better." He never thought, "This is just part of the game of Life. I'll get a new kid." He never shrugged and said, "Oh well. Isaac's just a boy. God can bring me a new one."

The parallels to my life and, I suspect, many others' lives, are uncanny. I find myself often denying the beauty of something that I lost so that I can ameliorate the pain of its departure.

On p 142 McLeroy writes, "The Christmas I'd call best so far was the one I almost spent with a man I loved twice-- one I double-mindedly prayed would either lead to something lasting or at least not add the kind o new memories I'd have to work hard to forget. I wanted it to be wonderful or horrible-- all good or all bad-- and it was neither. God must have seen past my shortsighted, bed-hedging request, because my holiday that year was crammed full of mostly good moments, lots of them, strung together like tiny lights, each one a glowing reminder that once upon a cold December, we were at home with one another. That Christmas we made snow angels, shopped in three states and veered into Canada, sang, and played Scrabble in our stocking feet. Our comfort barely lasted into January, but I still treasure it, even now."

That is life, in all its painful glory. That's the life that I want to embrace and not run from. I haven't been doing it well. But this author has helped me to see the beauty past the heartbreak

Former ghostwriter and creator of the "Wednesday Words" email devotional Leigh McLeroy presents The Beautiful Ache: Finding the God Who Satisfies When Life Does Not, a collection of inspirational writings reaching out to fellow Christians who feel unsatisfied despite the adventures of life, marriage, and career. From the ache to belong and hear God, to the aches of memory, labor, grief, and the ache to worship and feast with God, The Beautiful Ache poignantly illuminates Christian emotions and devotion. "How good is it to have a God who's made promises - wild ones! - and kept them? Who is keeping them still? How sweet to fall asleep to the lullaby of longing that he sings and wake up every morning searching for brand-new evidence of his arrival. And what a shame to deny that you're dying to do just that - not once a year but over and over until time cannot be counted anymore." The Beautiful Ache is deeply spiritual, and highly recommended for devout Christians of all walks of life.

This is a lovely, well written book that should be read slowly and with care. Leigh tackles the tug of living here on earth, and the pull of longing to live in heaven. Her style is soothing and comforting from beginning to end. She shares openly about her own walk with God full of blood, sweat and tears. She guides and takes the reader's hand to join her on this mysterious journey towards heaven and into God's presence. Her words are alive and a breath of fresh air for readers who are searching. She makes a good travel companion as you read each new chapter, and you will miss her when the last page of her book is read.
Judith Hayes
Published Author
Los Angeles, CA

"The Beautiful Ache" is a beautifully written exploration of longing. Spiritual insights flow naturally from a deep well of personal experience - the humor and poignancy of an examined life. This book has both message and mood. And the twilight mood is especially enticing - bittersweet, nostalgic, hopeful, yearning.

I won this book at church and wasn't expecting much, thinking I knew the sort of frivolous woman who writes books like this. But I was wrong. From the first pages, as she described her escape at a snail's pace from an unnamed hurricane headed toward Houston with her faithful canine companion Chester sweating in the traffic jam in the seat beside her, she engaged my heart in her journey. When she finally stopped at a gas station that still had fuel, and waited in a long line, the gentleman ahead of her in an SUV asked 'Is that your posse?' nodding toward Chester, and she answered 'That would be it.' (Posse, oh my, the poignant sense of family, loyal followers and compatriots, those who love us no matter what...it was reaching me.) 'Aw, now where is that man of yours?' he ventured. 'I guess he hasn't found me yet.' she answered and I reacted as any woman would, I think, any woman who had ever known what it is like to be alone, to wonder what the road ahead will bring, if I will ever find the reassuring love that my heart longs for. Poignant. Engaging. Beautifully written ?so that no matter what she is writing about, it gives value to being human. 'I guess he hasn't found me yet.' Yeah, she reached my heart, so that I was with her, and not judging her on every page, not comparing the toughness of my walk against hers. She drew me a little bit more into the human family, the family of God. She made me connect with my own sense of my life. In the end, isn't that what all the best writing is about? It is for me.

I found the book to be good. Nothing really new to offer but still a good book to read when going through a difficult time.

A beautifully written, Biblically-based chicken soup for the soul that not only encourages, but challenges Christians to find the God who satisfies when the things of this world do not. Leigh McElroy is a wonderful writer!