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Grace J

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Discovering Biblical Equality by Various

NEW-Little Pilgrim's Progress (Illustrated Edition) by John Bunyan

A Study of Shattered Spells by Josiah DeGraaf

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Grace is Currently Reading

Grace J is currently reading

This Beautiful Truth: How God's Goodness Breaks into Our Darkness

by Sarah Clarkson

bookshelves: psychology, christian-nonfiction, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in April 2026

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Grace J said: " Reading this book felt like a friend sitting down across from me, taking my scarred hands in hers, listening to my story, weeping with me, and sharing her own tale. And suddenly, I knew that I was not alone. I knew that others had been crushed by the Reading this book felt like a friend sitting down across from me, taking my scarred hands in hers, listening to my story, weeping with me, and sharing her own tale. And suddenly, I knew that I was not alone. I knew that others had been crushed by the darkness and overwhelmed by its screaming voices, unable to see through a broken mind, a broken heart, a broken soul. Someone else knew exactly how it felt. Then, she reached out, and pointed to those broken pieces, and somehow showed me that there are truths deeper and more wondrous than all this world's brokenness. She took my unravelling hope and tied a knot, grabbed my fraying dreams and held them steady, looked me in the eyes and dared me to believe that brokenness does not get the final say in my life. She pointed to all the hollow and empty places and told me of the light that was coming to fill them. And when I couldn't believe her, she told me her own story, and the stories of others walking a similar road, pouring courage into my soul until I found the strength to take another step.

This beautiful, wonderful book is so many things all at once.

It is Sarah's vulnerable tale of how mental illness has battered and shaped her life. Thus, it brought relief and comfort, because my hidden pains and doubts were finally named and shared with another.

It is her declaration of how beauty brings us through our brokenness. Thus, it filled my mind with truths to hold on to in darkness.

It is a piece of beauty in its own right, too, for the way Sarah writes of life and fellowship and nature and God is so achingly beautiful that the book doesn't just tell you that beauty will break through your pain, it IS one piece of beauty that breaks into your darkness.

Reading this book made me feel less alone. Reading this book gave me words to describe the darkness, and beauty to fight it. Reading this book told me that someone else--Sarah, Job, fictional characters, and many more--have faced the same darkness I have, and managed to hang on through it. Reading this book assured me that my pain is real and hard, and that light and beauty are even realer; that, as Samwise Gamgee discovered, "there is light and beauty that no shadow can touch." ...more "

progress:

(page 26 of 212)
"Did I finish this book and promptly go back to page 1 and start over again because it's just that good?

Yes. Yes I did." — Apr 12, 2026 06:53PM

Apr 12, 2026 06:53PM · see review

Grace J is currently reading

A Study of Shattered Spells

by Josiah DeGraaf (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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progress:

(32%)
"Confused as to why the author switched to that character's POV; it was way more interesting when we didn't know what he was thinking" — 9 hours, 9 min ago

9 hours, 9 min ago