Customer Reviews

Sunsets: Reflections for Life's Final Journey

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I read SUNSETS while processing the grief of my husband's cancer battle that eventually included our experience with a wonderful hospice team during the final days of his life. I found not only comfort but a thorough summary of Scriptural confirmation of my beliefs regarding God's plan for our lives, why He allows suffering, what happens when we die, and the truth about heaven and hell. With kindness and compassion for families in the throes of facing death, Deborah Howard frankly and repeatedly quotes appropriate Scripture to console the dying and encourage the living.

As the author of a biography about suffering and death resulting from mental illness and as the recent widow of a once dynamic man debilitated by cancer, I highly recommend SUNSETS to anyone who desires a better understanding of suffering and death, as well as hope and courage for completing the courses of our lives.

I bought this book because my father had been given a terminal cancer diagnosis and I was searching for materials to help my mother wade through all the frightening and heart wrenching decisions and actions that she and my Dad would be facing. I found this book to be very helpful for that situation, BUT it is actually a book which I believe would be helpful to EVERY person, regardless of how far we may think that we, or our loved ones are, from our final days on earth. The book is filled with encouragments, both practical and spiritual about how we can all confidently take our last steps through this life comfortably and peacefully, headed into eternity with sure hope. The book was written by a Christian hospice nurse who gives tons of information about hospice through her very accessable writing style. Prior to reading the book I thought I knew a lot about hospice, but I found that I had carried a lot of misconceptions about it, which this book corrected. As I mentioned, I would recommend this book for every person who will eventually face death....and that would be ALL of us!

This book addresses the many issues surrounding the end of life, and it was very helpful whether you are facing death yourself or the death of a loved one or friend. It explains hospice care and its benefits, discusses suffering and some of the reasons for it, and points the reader to the One who holds life and death in His hand.

It seems morbid, I know, but since childhood I always have been fascinated by this subject, namely, death.
Being a baptist pastor here in Brazil since 1993, I have always dealt with persons who are
dying and persons who have lost their dear ones to this great enemy.
So, having discovered Deborah Howard's book was a blessing to me.
Her book is really outstanding!
Here are some of the reasons:
1. The foreword was written by D.A. Carson. Well, as we know, he is a renowned biblical scholar, and we must be sure that he would
never endorse a bad book!
2. Being a hospice nurse for a long time, Deborah Howard knows a lot about how to deal with persons who are dying, and she
shares with us her long experience in this field;
3. Her book is totally biblical; her vision of God's salvation and Sovereignty is strongly reformed;
4. There are a lot of biblical references, and I have noticed that she never used them out of context;
5. The case studies, (which are real stories that she experienced as a hospice nurse), were, indeed, very moving;
6. Her biblical vision on heaven and hell (Let's remember Rob Bell's 'Love wins' and all the controversy regarding the existence of hell).
7. The chapter on suffering is so good that Deborah expanded it and published another book, "Where is God in all of this?", published by P&R Publishing.
I have some important books on the reality of death, but
definitely from now on 'Sunsets' is one of my favorites books regarding the subject of death and, even better, the hope of resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth.
Come, Lord Jesus!
I recommend it with enthusiasm!

This should be mandatory reading for care givers and family members of the terminally ill. I also recommend this book to all believers regardless of where you are in your walk with Jesus Christ. Share this book with others. You will understand why after you read it. Sunsets reinforces basic truths with a different perspective. A wealth of information (spiritual, health-related, and practical application), Deborah writes tenderly and loving with her special insight into the passage from life to death. I encourage everyone to reread this book annually to refresh yourself with the truths contained in its pages; you will be rewarded with peace and comfort that defies description. Deborah is extremely well-grounded and competent to author such a book. The message will bless you. The reader is reminded throughout the book of the urgency to prepare yourself for eternal life - either with the Lord or the enemy - and the simple way to do this. You will find yourself reminded of the overall theme time and time again: the Lord is in control.