This book list provides some great choices to help with the complexities of dealing with trauma, terminal illness, cancer, and suffering in general.

Affliction - by Edith Schaeffer

This book is for those ready to be ruthlessly honest about life and suffering. It gives good answers to the hard issues but not easy answers. The author has a great illustration that can be used to communicate God's plan for seemingly senseless suffering. Edith's Christian philosopher husband, Francis Schaeffer, died of cancer.

Counselors, Comforters & Friends - Shelly Chapin This is a book for those who want to be truly helpful to those in distress by a single woman who overcame divorce and cancer and learned what helps and what doesn't.

Disappointment with God - Phillip Yancy Yancy is a superb Christian thinker and writer. In this book he deals with the issues of Is God there? Is He silent? Is he hidden? His thoughts are thoroughly Biblical and relevant.

Don't Waste Your Sorrows - Paul Billheimer Good book from a pastor's heart on the biblical purposes of suffering and how to cooperate with them.

The Gift of Pain - Paul Brand MD & Phillip Yancey Pain is nothing that most of us would count as a blessing, but what it is and why we need it if we're to live life fully, is brought to light in this book.

The Gospel According to Job - Mike Mason Through this devotional study, the reader discovers that it is all right to doubt, be confused, get angry--in short, to be completely human. From Job we learn that the mark of true faith is not happiness; rather that one's deepest passions are being engaged by the enormity of God. And through Job, we learn the secret of the gospel: "mercy is the permission to be human."

A Grief Observed - C.S. Lewis The intimate reflections of a new widower after his wife's death. Good for giving permission to grieve! This is the book that inspired the film Shadowlands, but it is more wrenching, more revelatory, and more real than the movie. It is a beautiful and unflinchingly honest record of how even a stalwart believer can lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings.

The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom, John Sherrill Here is a book aglow with the glory of God and the courage of a quiet Christian spinster whose life was transformed by it. A story of Christ's message and the courageous woman who listened and lived... The true story of two sisters sent to a Nazi concentration camp for helping Jews, and how they survived.

Joni: An Unforgettable Story - Joni Eareckson Tada The unforgettable autobiography of Joni Eareckson Tada and her struggles to adjust after a diving accident leaves her paralyzed from the neck down. This story has encouraged and inspired millions of readers.

The Pilgrims Progress - John Bunyan Here is John Bunyan's timeless classic, an allegory of man's walk with God. Join Christian and his companions on their journey to the Celestial City, as they pass through many experiences common to us all and travel in triumph with the King. Also available in a Modern English Translation.

The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis C.S. Lewis, the master apologist, tackles the question that has plagued humanity for centuries. If God is both omnipotent and good, how can we explain the pain and suffering that people experience daily? And what of the suffering of animals, who neither deserve pain nor can be improved by it? With compassion and insight, C.S. Lewis proposes reasonable answers to these critical theological problems, sharing his wisdom with those who seek true understanding.

The Triumphant Patient - Greg Anderson from Rochester, Minnesota says: When I was diagnosed with Grade 3 Pancreatic Cancer in 1993 I felt that I was a 'dead man' with a life expectancy of six months. "The Triumphant Patient" became my game plan of coping and survival. Five years later I still use, recommend and gift this book to other Cancer 'Survivors'. If you are in a 'Life-Death' struggle with Cancer and want a book to help you 'fight' and live your remaining life with "The Triumphant Patient" by Greg Anderson.

Where is God When it Hurts? - Phillip Yancy Why, in a world of love, is there so much pain? Is pain God's big mistake? Is there a message behind the suffering? "Where is God When it Hurts" is a true inspirational classic, a revealing, loving, and powerful book that deals realistically with crises of pain and suffering in all our lives. Philip Yancey takes us into his own life and others' lives to witness what few of us have ever seen: the true purpose of pain.

Within the Shadow - Shelley Chapin A biblical look at suffering, death, and the process of grieving.

The Wounded Heart - Dan Allender With professional skill and spiritual insight, The Wounded Heart will help you explore the secret lament of the soul damaged by sexual abuse-and uncover the hope buried there by the One whose unstained image you bear.