Sitting Strong

Brief Description

Sitting Strong: Wrestling with the Ornery God, by bestselling author Jeanie Miley, suggests that when life knocks the props out from under you, it is possible to gather up your agony and wrestle with it in the presence of the God who may feel strangely absent. This book is not about being strong. Rather, taking the struggles and triumphs of Job as its guide, this book is about that terrible time when all you can do is stumble onto the ash heap of suffering and simply sit.

About the Author

Jeanie Miley is a writer and columnist, a retreat leader, and speaker on topics of spiritual growth and contemplative prayer. She is the author of ten books and has written a weekly newspaper column, “Growing Edges,” for thirty-three years. Trained at the Spiritual Direction Institute in Houston, Texas, Jeanie has read and studied broadly in the areas of spiritual growth and is a spiritual director. Her work rests, as she says, on a “four-legged stool”—Bible study, the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, contemplative prayer, and Jungian psychology. Jeanie teaches a popular women’s Bible study at River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, and at other sites in the Houston area. She is a frequent retreat leader for groups across the country. Visit www.jeaniemiley.com for more information.

Table of Contents

Tribute
Introduction
Chapter One Life Happens
Chapter Two The God Problem
Chapter Three The Satan Problem
Chapter Four The Long Sit
Chapter Five The Friend Problem
Chapter Six The Friends’ Problem
Chapter Seven The Pain Problem
Chapter Eight The Ornery God
Chapter Nine False Gods and Other Problems
Chapter Ten False Guilt and Cheap Suffering
Chapter Eleven Why Be Good . . . If Nobody’s Watching?
Chapter Twelve Giving Up
Chapter Thirteen God in the Abyss
Chapter Fourteen The Whisper of His Grace
Chapter Fifteen God Is the Verb
Chapter Sixteen Choose
Reading Job: A Spiritual Exercise