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Desperate Hope: When Faith in God Overcame My Despair
A fiercely honest yet deeply faithful meditation on the “gentle whispers and hard-learned faith lessons” that follow tragedy—in this case, the death of Candi Pearson-Shelton’s 23-year-old brother to cancer. As her younger brother battled for life in the ICU, musician Candi Pearson-Shelton and her family sat waiting and praying, clinging to hope. Rick Pearson died anyway, at age 23. But in those tense ICU days and the painful months following Rick’s death, the family found a shared purpose and a new to see God glorified no matter what. This remarkable book chronicles their journey offering a song of praise to One who not only revealed His glory, but also granted a shifted perspective that changed nothing…but somehow made all the difference. Includes the story behind the author’s song, “Glory Revealed.”
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224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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86 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 12, 2010
Desperate Hope: When Faith in God Overcame My Despair is one of the most phenomenal books I have ever read. I’ve written book reviews before and I’ve used words like “great,” “excellent,” etc. but I’ve never used “phenomenal” until now. Desperate Hope was written by Candi Pearson-Shelton and it chronicles her family’s journey through a time of great sorrow. It sounds like this is a book about grief. It is not. Yes, the story of Candi’s precious brother, Rick, his illness and his ultimate triumphal embrace with his heavenly Father at the young age of 23, is woven throughout this book. Included in this book are some of his journal entries. When he became too sick to write, Candi or other family members took over. There are comments in response to those journal entries from friends, relatives and people who never met Rick in person. Hundreds, thousands of people were greatly affected by his life and witness, especially through those journal entries posted on a website to have people praying for him 24/7 and to share his testimony.
Rick’s motto was “Either way, I win.” He meant, of course, that if God chose to heal him here on earth, he would joyfully remain here with his family and continue his work for God. If God chose to heal Rick by bringing him home to Him, that was definitely a win! Yes, you will need a few Kleenex. But still, it is not a book about grief. It is a book about hope.
Let me give you a couple of examples from the book, with the author’s permission:
From the chapter titled “Hope Mixed with Faith:”
“Hope alone is not big enough—not mature enough—to sustain itself for long. But hope given over to faith? Now that’s a horse of a different color! When hope joins the ranks of faith, it provides a milieu for meaning. There is a sweet satisfaction in this marriage because suddenly we are provided with something bigger, something more substantive. It doesn’t require our faulty omniscience; therefore, it doesn’t collapse when the pressure mounts. Hope, with faith in our faithful God, can support the questions we have about living with our wounds. Its strength is made powerful because of God. Hope and faith are naturally found in a life lived under the Lordship of Christ, a life of worship marked with contentment and surrender.”
Later in the same chapter:
“I believe that Jesus calls us to hope until we are one of His answered prayers. Until we cease mortal life, we are to know He is able to heal and to restore, and to pray that He will. I believe He wants us to pray for miraculous intervention. Sometimes in the sovereignty of God there is provision for miracles, for physical healing and astounding restoration. Sometimes the divine work is in the miracle of death to earth and birth to eternity. The Father and the Son smile at either end, because they understand better than we ever will what ‘either way, I win’ means.”
There is no doubt in my mind that God used Candi Pearson-Shelton as His vessel to bring the message of His hope to this world. His anointing is all over this book from the moment you pick it up and begin reading until you turn the last page. It is a book that will change your life. If you are grieving the loss of a loved one, this book will give you hope. If you are depressed or ill, this book will infuse you with hope. If you have lost your hope—your faith, God will graciously restore your hope and faith through the words He wrote by Candi’s hand. And if you simply want your faith to grow more, this is the book that will cause your faith to grow.
I feel like I have not done Desperate Hope justice in this review. It is my earnest heart’s desire for you to understand that Desperate Hope is an encouraging, restorative book that offers hope to everyone. Without going into detail, I will say that God used this book to restore my hope and my faith in Him.
I encourage you to buy this book. Desperate Hope can be ordered online from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and ChristianBook.com.
My prayer for you as you read this book is for God to instill in you faith the size of a “mustard seed” and that your attitude will always be “I win!”
Rick’s motto was “Either way, I win.” He meant, of course, that if God chose to heal him here on earth, he would joyfully remain here with his family and continue his work for God. If God chose to heal Rick by bringing him home to Him, that was definitely a win! Yes, you will need a few Kleenex. But still, it is not a book about grief. It is a book about hope.
Let me give you a couple of examples from the book, with the author’s permission:
From the chapter titled “Hope Mixed with Faith:”
“Hope alone is not big enough—not mature enough—to sustain itself for long. But hope given over to faith? Now that’s a horse of a different color! When hope joins the ranks of faith, it provides a milieu for meaning. There is a sweet satisfaction in this marriage because suddenly we are provided with something bigger, something more substantive. It doesn’t require our faulty omniscience; therefore, it doesn’t collapse when the pressure mounts. Hope, with faith in our faithful God, can support the questions we have about living with our wounds. Its strength is made powerful because of God. Hope and faith are naturally found in a life lived under the Lordship of Christ, a life of worship marked with contentment and surrender.”
Later in the same chapter:
“I believe that Jesus calls us to hope until we are one of His answered prayers. Until we cease mortal life, we are to know He is able to heal and to restore, and to pray that He will. I believe He wants us to pray for miraculous intervention. Sometimes in the sovereignty of God there is provision for miracles, for physical healing and astounding restoration. Sometimes the divine work is in the miracle of death to earth and birth to eternity. The Father and the Son smile at either end, because they understand better than we ever will what ‘either way, I win’ means.”
There is no doubt in my mind that God used Candi Pearson-Shelton as His vessel to bring the message of His hope to this world. His anointing is all over this book from the moment you pick it up and begin reading until you turn the last page. It is a book that will change your life. If you are grieving the loss of a loved one, this book will give you hope. If you are depressed or ill, this book will infuse you with hope. If you have lost your hope—your faith, God will graciously restore your hope and faith through the words He wrote by Candi’s hand. And if you simply want your faith to grow more, this is the book that will cause your faith to grow.
I feel like I have not done Desperate Hope justice in this review. It is my earnest heart’s desire for you to understand that Desperate Hope is an encouraging, restorative book that offers hope to everyone. Without going into detail, I will say that God used this book to restore my hope and my faith in Him.
I encourage you to buy this book. Desperate Hope can be ordered online from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and ChristianBook.com.
My prayer for you as you read this book is for God to instill in you faith the size of a “mustard seed” and that your attitude will always be “I win!”
January 26, 2025
I technically finished reading this book last night, but I didn't really think that I could bring myself to post the review in it's entirety, because I broke down crying shortly after finishing it, mainly because I've dealt with a LOT of pain throughout my life, to say the least, and I wanted to wait until I was in a better mood/state of mind to post it, so here goes: this book has really challenged me to view the pain that I have went through in my life so far on a different way, so, with all of that said, here are the quotes that spoke the most to me in the midst of my pain:
"There is only one facet of it I know to be true: Hope is not always beautiful, but it is always necessary."
"Understanding the deep ramifications of an answered prayer, one way or another, is to consider all its facets."
"One of the most beautiful things to remember about our God, however, is His ability to redeem our small visions and turn them into God-sized ones. He made glorious displays from the situations of each of the people mentioned, even after they clearly usurped God's rule and replaced it with their temporary and flawed decisions." (The people that she is referring to are, in order, Adam and Eve, Moses, Jacob, Jonah, and others that she doesn't mention.)
"Simply put, God absolutely loves to redeem. He has been doing it since Eden, and He continues to extend His grace so that each of us can understand the magnitude and enchanting beauty of His redemption. The only criterion for experiencing such delight is to embrace His rule, His lordship-His ability to control."
"God can use the terrible reality of pain and our incredibly human responses to it as a way of showing us just how human we are...and just how holy He is. We realize that, in our incapability of emotional control, we are experiencing the fullness of the human heart and are at once living in the perfect moment to realize who is fit to control emotions."
"He tells us to come as we are, no cleanup required, because He already did the dirty work when He sent Jesus to spill His blood. Now, no pretenses. Just imperfect and human us. The important thing is that we talk to Him. The perspective of our filthiness and His perfection will come. Honesty before God is healthy for us and honoring to Him. It is just one more step toward realizing He is infinitely more certain than our questions. He is unfathomably more loving than we are angry. It's a good thing, being aware of just how terrible and selfish and undeserving I can be. The contrast makes His greatness all the more great. It also makes a way for new shoots of life to muscle up through the ash."
"He is such a great God in that way, always knowing exactly what we need and when we need it. He touches our hearts with understanding when we cannot find the capacity to function on our uncertainties anymore. He gives us a clear vision, at least in part, of His perfect plan."
"But learning to trust Him in everything means knowing you'll never know it all...and He will. It means learning that He always has the best end in mind. It means more hurt is sure to come, but when it does, He feels it with you."
All in all, this book was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, in every sense of the word and not only challenged me, but also gave me a LOT to internalize and use to deepen my faith, even in the midst of all of the pain that I have gone through throughout my entire life so far, so thank you for writing this book, Candi. I greatly appreciate it, more than you will ever know.
"There is only one facet of it I know to be true: Hope is not always beautiful, but it is always necessary."
"Understanding the deep ramifications of an answered prayer, one way or another, is to consider all its facets."
"One of the most beautiful things to remember about our God, however, is His ability to redeem our small visions and turn them into God-sized ones. He made glorious displays from the situations of each of the people mentioned, even after they clearly usurped God's rule and replaced it with their temporary and flawed decisions." (The people that she is referring to are, in order, Adam and Eve, Moses, Jacob, Jonah, and others that she doesn't mention.)
"Simply put, God absolutely loves to redeem. He has been doing it since Eden, and He continues to extend His grace so that each of us can understand the magnitude and enchanting beauty of His redemption. The only criterion for experiencing such delight is to embrace His rule, His lordship-His ability to control."
"God can use the terrible reality of pain and our incredibly human responses to it as a way of showing us just how human we are...and just how holy He is. We realize that, in our incapability of emotional control, we are experiencing the fullness of the human heart and are at once living in the perfect moment to realize who is fit to control emotions."
"He tells us to come as we are, no cleanup required, because He already did the dirty work when He sent Jesus to spill His blood. Now, no pretenses. Just imperfect and human us. The important thing is that we talk to Him. The perspective of our filthiness and His perfection will come. Honesty before God is healthy for us and honoring to Him. It is just one more step toward realizing He is infinitely more certain than our questions. He is unfathomably more loving than we are angry. It's a good thing, being aware of just how terrible and selfish and undeserving I can be. The contrast makes His greatness all the more great. It also makes a way for new shoots of life to muscle up through the ash."
"He is such a great God in that way, always knowing exactly what we need and when we need it. He touches our hearts with understanding when we cannot find the capacity to function on our uncertainties anymore. He gives us a clear vision, at least in part, of His perfect plan."
"But learning to trust Him in everything means knowing you'll never know it all...and He will. It means learning that He always has the best end in mind. It means more hurt is sure to come, but when it does, He feels it with you."
All in all, this book was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, in every sense of the word and not only challenged me, but also gave me a LOT to internalize and use to deepen my faith, even in the midst of all of the pain that I have gone through throughout my entire life so far, so thank you for writing this book, Candi. I greatly appreciate it, more than you will ever know.
March 25, 2010
BOOK OVERVIEW:
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX—As her older brother battled for his life in the ICU, Candi Pearson-Shelton sat waiting and praying with her family for a miracle. The Scriptures were more precious to them in those hours than ever. As Candi poured over the words from Isaiah chapter 40, a song was born. A voice cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.... Then every eye will see the glory of the Lord revealed. The days and months and years that would follow would be painful, but Candi and her family found in the words of this biblical song a sort of mission—a call to find the glory of the Lord shining through the sorrow and to reflect that glory to all those around them.
And when death finally came, by the grace of God, they were able to find purpose through the pain. In fact, they found a depth of beauty in the abyss of the loss that they never could have imagined. Candi discovered that her vision was too narrow, that her lens was too tainted by her own perceptions of fairness and justice and her own desire to control the outcome.
In the fiercely honest yet faithful book, Desperate Hope: When Faith in God Overcame My Despair, Candi shares the lessons that came to them along their journey, offering a song of praise to One who, in the midst of tragedy, pain and confusion, revealed not only His glory but also beauty, unexpected graces, a hope more grounded in faith and a shifted perspective that changed nothing but somehow made all the difference.
“I write these thoughts out of necessity,” the author reflects. “There is value in recording the gentle whispers and hard-learned faith lessons that make up the aftermath, springing up like tender shoots of vivid green grass through the contrasting blackened dry soot. These are my blades of grass, the lessons in the aftermath, told with the heart of an adventurer fresh from the adventure, brimming with tales of terror and scars, of beauty and redemption.”
All of the profits from the sale of Desperate Hope will go to the Rick Pearson Memorial Fund, a non-profit that exists to extend the hope of Christ to others by championing the interests and organizations that Rick passionately supported. Monies that are donated to the Rick Pearson Memorial Fund are used to help support organizations like Compassion International, Bigstuf Camps, The 410 Bridge, Passion Conferences and most recently, a scholarship fund for students who want to pursue a ministry of music with an emphasis on missions.
There is a song entitled “One Breath, Then Another,” that will accompany the book. There will be a code inside each book to redeem online for a free download of the song.
MY REVIEW:
Desperate Hope is the amazing story of human suffering and the hope we have in Jesus Christ. This book is proof in black and white of how God can be glorified even in the worst times of our lives.
Candi Pearson-Shelton explains how our own plans can get in the way of enjoying the things God brings into our lives, how our desire for control lessens our view of God, and how difficulty brings about growth in our life.
This book was such an encouragement to read and a wonderful balm to the soul as we all grapple with suffering at some point in our life. I enjoyed the candid details of this family's journey in one of life's deepest valleys and how they saw God through it all.
AUTHOR BIO:
Candi Pearson-Shelton is a worship leader, songwriter and independent artist. Known for her involvement with the Passion worship movement, she also wrote and performed the title track on the Dove-award-winning album, Glory Revealed. She and her husband Jonathan live in Southern California with their son, Elias.
* * * * *
This review copy was provided courtesy of David C. Cook and The B&B Media Group.
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX—As her older brother battled for his life in the ICU, Candi Pearson-Shelton sat waiting and praying with her family for a miracle. The Scriptures were more precious to them in those hours than ever. As Candi poured over the words from Isaiah chapter 40, a song was born. A voice cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.... Then every eye will see the glory of the Lord revealed. The days and months and years that would follow would be painful, but Candi and her family found in the words of this biblical song a sort of mission—a call to find the glory of the Lord shining through the sorrow and to reflect that glory to all those around them.
And when death finally came, by the grace of God, they were able to find purpose through the pain. In fact, they found a depth of beauty in the abyss of the loss that they never could have imagined. Candi discovered that her vision was too narrow, that her lens was too tainted by her own perceptions of fairness and justice and her own desire to control the outcome.
In the fiercely honest yet faithful book, Desperate Hope: When Faith in God Overcame My Despair, Candi shares the lessons that came to them along their journey, offering a song of praise to One who, in the midst of tragedy, pain and confusion, revealed not only His glory but also beauty, unexpected graces, a hope more grounded in faith and a shifted perspective that changed nothing but somehow made all the difference.
“I write these thoughts out of necessity,” the author reflects. “There is value in recording the gentle whispers and hard-learned faith lessons that make up the aftermath, springing up like tender shoots of vivid green grass through the contrasting blackened dry soot. These are my blades of grass, the lessons in the aftermath, told with the heart of an adventurer fresh from the adventure, brimming with tales of terror and scars, of beauty and redemption.”
All of the profits from the sale of Desperate Hope will go to the Rick Pearson Memorial Fund, a non-profit that exists to extend the hope of Christ to others by championing the interests and organizations that Rick passionately supported. Monies that are donated to the Rick Pearson Memorial Fund are used to help support organizations like Compassion International, Bigstuf Camps, The 410 Bridge, Passion Conferences and most recently, a scholarship fund for students who want to pursue a ministry of music with an emphasis on missions.
There is a song entitled “One Breath, Then Another,” that will accompany the book. There will be a code inside each book to redeem online for a free download of the song.
MY REVIEW:
Desperate Hope is the amazing story of human suffering and the hope we have in Jesus Christ. This book is proof in black and white of how God can be glorified even in the worst times of our lives.
Candi Pearson-Shelton explains how our own plans can get in the way of enjoying the things God brings into our lives, how our desire for control lessens our view of God, and how difficulty brings about growth in our life.
This book was such an encouragement to read and a wonderful balm to the soul as we all grapple with suffering at some point in our life. I enjoyed the candid details of this family's journey in one of life's deepest valleys and how they saw God through it all.
AUTHOR BIO:
Candi Pearson-Shelton is a worship leader, songwriter and independent artist. Known for her involvement with the Passion worship movement, she also wrote and performed the title track on the Dove-award-winning album, Glory Revealed. She and her husband Jonathan live in Southern California with their son, Elias.
* * * * *
This review copy was provided courtesy of David C. Cook and The B&B Media Group.
May 10, 2010
Desperate Hope is the story of the tragic death of 23 year old Rick Pearson, brother to the author, Candi Pearson-Shelton.
Rick Pearson’s life was taken by leukemia in 2005, and he left behind not only his immediate family, but his fiancee’ Suzanne. Candi writes about her personal struggle related to her brother’s death and how her faith was rocked. Losing her brother caused Candi to ask a lot of questions and it also helped her solidify her faith in Christ. This book details her journey and ability to find hope mixed with faith and in the end, proclaim that God is faithful – no matter what. I found this book to be a beautiful expression of Candi’s faith and trust in God, and also a moving tribute to her brother. What I found most inspiring about this book was at the very end (Page 223). Candi writes that all of the profits from the sale of this book are going to her brother’s memorial fund, called Legacy.
Legacy supports various interests and organizations that Rick supported when he was alive – to learn more about this fund, visit www.rickpearson.org
August 26, 2015
Wonderful book I highly recommend everyone to read it. Beyond inspirational. I loved it couldn't put it down
Wonderful book I highly recommend. Beyond inspirational . Sometimes funny, some times gut wrench ing well worth the read. I loved it
Wonderful book I highly recommend. Beyond inspirational . Sometimes funny, some times gut wrench ing well worth the read. I loved it
Want to Read
January 25, 2010*Thanks to Audra of TBB Media for providing a copy for review.*
February 19, 2010
Candi's writing is really beautiful, but this book assumes you are a certain kind of person.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews