On Broken Legs: A Shattered Life, a Search for God, a Miracle That Met Me in a Cave in Assisi [Hardcover]

Wendy M Zoba (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2004

This beautifully-written literary memoir shows us how God uses personal crises to both shatter and rebuild our faith.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Zoba, a senior writer for Christianity Today, tells of falling into an emotional abyss and slowly, painfully, finding her way out. She and her pastor-husband divorced, her boys all left the nest for school or work, friends abandoned her, she had gallbladder surgery and she was in a car accident. This "devastating season threw into chaos everything" that had undergirded Zoba's life and faith and sent her into a months-long period she describes as "the Dark Night," echoing St. John of the Cross's "dark night of the soul." While Zoba recounts tangible steps in her journey to healing (relocating to North Carolina, building a house, traveling for work), the bulk of her narrative focuses on the less tangible emotional journey, which her insightful writing clearly captures. Her months of seemingly fruitless prayer (daily, sometimes nose to the carpet) were followed by small signs of hope and—eventually—painstaking progress. Zoba experienced an emotional miracle on a pilgrimage to Assisi, a spiritual shift that gave her the assurance to move forward again with complete abandonment to God. Those who have had trouble finding God in the midst of great loss will be comforted to find a companion in Zoba, and will cherish her literary map to "the Dark Night."
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From the Back Cover

"To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven." --Ecclesiastes 3:1, NKJV The cross is evidence that grace can be violent, messy, and encountered in the most incongruous places. It's nothing we can ever fully understand. Maybe that's the point. Deeply personal and honest, award-winning author Wendy Murray Zoba's spiritual memoir ravages the myth that "real" Christian life must be untarnished and sublime. From the simple wisdom of children to surprise miracles from a beloved saint, Wendy found out that God used the chaotic seasons of her life to bring her closer to His heart. With a literary, pensive voice, she discloses an obscure, albeit essential, secret: We follow God best on broken legs.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: NavPress (September 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576836436
• ISBN-13: 978-1576836439
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,181,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Openness and Honesty, November 28, 2004

By 

David P. Graf (Chatham, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Broken Legs: A Shattered Life, a Search for God, a Miracle That Met Me in a Cave in Assisi (Hardcover)

By way of disclosure, I have never met Ms. Zoba in person, but several years ago we exchanged views on the Columbine killings via email. Even though we had a sharp disagreement, I came to appreciate her openness and honesty. You can see the same in this book. There is no sugar-coating of her experiences and feelings when her life fell apart in the wake of her divorce and illness. If you have ever gone through a period where your life was turned upside down and all that you counted on to make sense of it was gone, then you'll appreciate the message of this book. There are no easy answers, but what she writes about the journey through the "dark night of the soul" will be of great help to fellow travellers.