Help and Hope When You’re Healing Review

Are you injured? Having surgery? Then you need to read this book. Not injured? You still need to read it.

Help and Hope While You’re Healing is a comprehensive look at all the preparation that needs to be made for surgery along with a bunch of everyday things that you just might forget.

No one plans an illness or an injury and that’s why this book is such a great resource.

Christine Carter transparently shared her experiences and encourages you to laugh along with her.

Her book reminds us that sickness is part of our journey. It may leave us physically broken but we can weave those broken parts into a stronger version of ourselves.

What I Liked About the Book

Before delving into the topic Christine shared her “sickness and surgery” resume. It was a decent-sized list but through it all, she kept her sense of humor and optimism.

At no point did she make us feel uncomfortable. Instead, you are left with a feeling of amazement that after so many illnesses and surgeries she’s still upbeat and able to laugh at herself.

As you read through the various steps Christine is there as a cheerleader encouraging your process throughout the book. With her help, you are encouraged to push through the dark days onto the next step in your journey.

At the end of the book, there are a number of worksheets and checklists that are related to the chapters covered. These are intended to help you plan your convalescence.

7 Pieces of Good Advice from Help and Hope

1. Waiting, while it may be hard, can be where our greatest growth occurs.

2. Don’t try to do everything at once. Build up to “normal” slowly.

3. Accept the gift of hospitality and help from others.

4. Pain can sometimes make our realities a little fuzzy. It’s therefore important to take some time to focus on all that’s still good.

5. Do not isolate yourself. You may be used to being Ms. Independent or Mr. Fantastic but you still need to know when to ask for help.

6. Don’t let the time you have to spend being still go waste. Take the time to develop yourself. Learn a new skill, or maybe a new hobby. (This article gives some websites where you can take free courses.)

7. Healing will take longer than you think.

Final Thoughts

There was one thing that made me uncomfortable with this book. In chapter 9, Prayer and Spirituality Christine made the comment “whatever you believe and whomever you worship, I encourage you to dive deeply into this place of faith. For me, Christ is the only answer and true source of peace.”

While she did acknowledge that Christ is the true source of peace, I felt that as a Christian writer this was an opportunity to stand up for Christ and she didn’t. I get that she wanted to create a culture of acceptance but it’s not how I would have approached it.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Help and Hope When You’re Healing. As someone who occasionally has days when she’s unable to walk I really believe that this book is a great addition to any library.

Grab your copy of Help and Hope While You’re Healing on Amazon today. No one plans to be ill but it’s good to have a plan for those times when you are. Have you read Help and Hope When You’re Healing? What did you think of it?

You can read more from Christine Carter at her blog The Mom Cafe.