Customer Reviews

Grant Me Serenity

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Tired of hearing that healing is a step-by-step process? Coping with daily challenges that threaten to overwhelm? Janalee Card Chmel offers you a gift in this honest, heartfelt work of art. GRANT ME SERENITY comforts in a singular, welcoming way: not by glossing over pain, encouraging readers to escape pain, or promising that life can be simplified and managed, but by illustrating how one strong person plowed through a series of tough experiences and, after a long and often bitter journey, comes to acknowledge how the painful loss she so resents compels her to live her life to the fullest. Janalee Card Chmel is that strong person. Her mother would be proud.

Not only is Chmel's book good for those with terminal illness and their caretakers, it was helpful for me--someone who has suffered with chronic pain and sickness. I could identify with Janalee's anger and frustration with the medical community and the unfairness of her situation. Just like Janalee, I've screamed at God and wanted to attack my bed with a rolling pin! This book gave me permission to deal with some of the feelings I've stuffed away, and revealed some other areas that I need to confront in order to heal and find "serenity". Thanks Janalee!

Janalee Card Chmel, by reaching inside herself, reaches out to all of us who have experienced a great loss. She is so open with her emotions and gifted in her ability to relate poignant moments that at times I felt like an intruder. But she chose to take us on her journey and shares it beautifully. By being so honest in her writing, she enables the reader to be honest with himself.

In addition to her writing ability, Janalee produced a book that is technically and aesthetically first-rate which book lovers will appreciate.

This book is one of the best I have ever read (and I've read thousands!). Janalee makes you really care about what is happening to her and her family, and though you know from the outset that her Mother will die, you can't help but keep hoping that a miracle will happen and she will be cured. Janalee opens up her heart to the reader, and lets you have the rare experience of sharing her pain, her hopes, and her love for her Mother. Having been given the privilege of reading Janalee's book while it was still in draft form, I couldn't wait for the finished product to come out on the market, and I was not disappointed! I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever gone through the experience of seeing a loved one through their final illness; anyone who needs help in coping with the loss of a loved one; or anyone who simply wants to read something that will warm their heart and make them feel that though life can sometimes be almost unbearably hard, we should take the time to appreciate our loved ones RIGHT NOW, and let them know it.