New Life After Divorce

Bill Butterworth

Waterbrook Press

With Or Without You

Cameron Conant

Relevant Books

It's been said, "Time heals all wounds". Or "Time wounds all heels". Something like that.

It has been my experience that Time is actually the vehicle that God uses to heal the wounds that we pick up through life. The topic of divorce has been taboo in Christian circles for centuries, but the reality is that what was once a rare occurrence is now much more commonplace, and fortunately, the church has had to learn how to respond.

This is precisely the reason that these two books on the same topic are being reviewed together. These books also have a significance to me, as I have experienced the pain and healing from divorce over the last several years. Which brings me back to the importance of Time.

New Life arrives several years after the author's divorce, and the book is written more as a reflection of what he did (right and wrong), and to encourage someone who is in the middle of the process. The insight that is given encourages forgiveness as a part of healing, even when it seems wholly unnatural and unfair to do so. It is clear that Butterworth has had the necessary Time to work and pray through the pain and allow God to heal his heart, which gives him an amount of spiritual authority on the subject of healing from divorce. And he does this without pointing any blame at his ex-wife, which is hard to do. I recommend this highly to anyone who feels justified in being the victim of another person's decisions, because I had been there.

With Or Without You was written soon after Conant's divorce, and it shows. I admire him for the ability to write during the hardest parts of his divorce, but at the same time, it seems that he has not completely come to terms with it himself, and that the wound is still fresh. At several points, I felt as if I was somewhat voyeuristic, prying into his personal life with the wound still open and bleeding. I look forward to the book that he will write in a few years, but this one finds me praying that he finds the healing that I have been given.

The main difference between the two is Time, but Time has made all the difference between the effectiveness of these two books.