How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong?

by Lewis B. Smedes

"Faith does not break lose in my head with a whooping, 'Hurrah for God!'  Believing sneaks into my soul while my head is saying, 'My God, where were you when I needed you?'"

Lewis Smedes does not explain away pain or deny that things get bad and that life is hard.  Instead he helps us move beyond a disheartening present by being open to God and the certainty that things are, somehow, fundamentally right.

This book is about grace.

Grace is the courage to go on believing in the presence of suffering and death.  This is real believing, not just the intellectual kind.  "The thinking part is not all that hard.  IT is the feeling part that comes hard, the part that lets you know in the deep places of your soul that it is all right even when your head tells you everything is ghastly."

Genres: Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction, Religion, Christian Living, Counselling, Self Help

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Lewis Benedictus Smedes (1921 — December 19, 2002) was a renowned Christian author, ethicist, and theologian in the Reformed tradition. He was a professor of theology and ethics for twenty-five years at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. His 15 books, including the popular Forgive and Forget, covered some important issues including sexuality and forgiveness.

Lewis Benedictus Smedes was born in 1921, the youngest of five children. His father, Melle Smedes, and mother, Rena (Benedictus), emigrated to the United States from Oostermeer, Friesland in the Netherlands. (Rena's name before being changed by the officials at Ellis Island was Renske.) When he was two-months-old, his father died in the partially completed house he built in Muskegon, Michigan. He married Doris Dekker. He died after falling from a ladder at his home in Sierra Madre, California on December 19, 2002. He was survived by his wife, three children, two grandchildren and one brother.

In addition to many articles, Smedes wrote many popular books including:

* Forgive & Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don't Deserve, Harper, 1984
* A Pretty Good Person What it Takes to Live with Courage, Gratitude, & Integrity or When Pretty Good Is as Good as You Can Be, Harper, 1990
* Standing on the Promises
* Choices: Making Right Decisions in a Complex World
* How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong?
* Caring & Commitment: Learning to Live the Love We Promise
* The Incarnation in Modern Anglo-Catholic Theology
* All Things Made New
* Love Within Limits
* Sex for Christians
* Mere Morality: What God Expects From Ordinary People
* A Life of Distinction
* The Art of Forgiving
* Shame and Grace: Healing the Shame We Don't Deserve
* Keeping Hope Alive
* My God and I, a Spiritual Memoir, Eerdmans, 2003

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life makes can be all right when everything is all wrong, that’s Grace of God. Grace doesn’t make everything right but it is the power to see life clearly, admits it is sometimes all wrong, and still know that somehow, in the centre of life, it’s alright. Amazing grace.

This books help to provide the index, a gift list from God - the gift of grace, joy, forgiveness, freedom, wonder, suffering (yes, suffering), being ordinary, open heart, faith, patience, being held and hope. When you feel something or even everything is all wrong, you should be able to find it be alright from the abundance of God’s gifts.

[Margie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. I had expected some great insights but it did not deliver. The author seemed to be bogged down and failed to develop his thoughts. It was as if he just kept missing the point in every chapter.
There was certainly not a single "Oh, yes!" moment for me.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

How Can Everything Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong: How Can Everything Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong
Smedes, Lewis B.
a phychological book looking to yourself and how you adapt to change

[Bryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious. Of the pages I finished, there were maybe three sentences that even remotely resembled something challenging.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Verbose and redundant. Chapter 8 was good.