Tasting the Goodness of God in All Things - Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet

I was unprepared for what Sara had written on these pages. I opened this book under the impression that I should share it with a friend going through a hard time, but oh my goodness. Whatever season of life you are in I promise this read is worth your while!

Though I have not struggled with infertility, I have struggled with pain and the Lords sovereignty in my life. This book wonderfully captures Gods love for each of us, during and through life's most painful and sometimes, longest moments.

I loved how challenging and real this book was. Sarah brought us into her story. And as someone who also struggles with infertility, it was a perfect reminder that God is good (to me.)
Thank you Sarah for writing this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone, but if you are pursuing adoption or foster care, it is a must-read. Sara has such a direct line of communication with the Lord, it will leave you yearning for that kind of relationship with our Creator.

So fantastic. Living in a bitter time & realizing that even tough I Am bitter the Lord is so sweet. His plans for me are even better and through that I can see goodness and love, even when my plans are different.

I bought this book hoping that Sara's story would walk me through seeing God's hand at work in the midst of challenges. Instead, it felt that she glossed over the real grit of her life's challenges and the book started to feel formulaic in a "Life was hard, but God loves me, and eventually everything worked out" sort of way. Certainly, just knowing that "God is good and loves me all the time" is a valuable lesson, but I was expecting more concrete examples of how she saw Him working through her situations; in this sense, the book wasn't really what I was expecting.

Many of Sara's "bitter things" (i.e. infertility, debt) were resolved over the course of her story and it left me feeling like she was able to see God's goodness primarily in the way that he gave her/her family exactly what they wanted to begin with. I think that to a new believer this book could be helpful, but for someone who wants to develop a new perspective on recognizing God's goodness (especially when things don't work out how we want them to) it felt a little lacking.

This book came recommended from a friend of mine and I had high hopes for it. I can't figure out if it's the book I dislike or the audio narrator's voice, but I can't bring myself to finish the audio cd. It feels too forced in the verbiage she uses. I will say I see the underlying meaning of the book and think that a lot of women can relate to the many inner thoughts the author shared with the readers. Better luck next time.

The premise and basis for this book is wonderful as is the account of one woman's struggle with faith during a time when her faith was tested. Her personal relationship with God is amazing. However, the ending or afterword of the book weakened the account in a sense.

Not what I expected. It was somewhat difficult to read and keep the continuity. It was like reading a series of blogs. Too often her examples were rather vague and devoid of enough detail to make them meaningful.

I was very disappointed in this book. I got almost halfway though it and couldn't read anymore. I felt like all the author was doing was a whole lot of whining. It seemed mostly a book of "woe is me" on almost every page. And here is a couple who had a house given to them and a large debt forgiven and who knows what else, but the joy didn't come through, only the pain. I kept waiting to feel uplifted but only felt that the book was dragging me down.

This book is full of treasures and hope anyone who comes across it, will get a glimpse of what it looks to walk habitually with Jesus, and experience Him in a fresh way even in the mundane things of life.

I was captivated by the beautiful cover and social media hype, yet I found myself yearning for more from a book with potential and such a promising tagline. I expected to read a book that reflected the title, but I never got the sense that the author experienced sweet within the bitter thing she was experiencing, infertility. Instead of "joy in the midst of waiting" (one of the book's captions), the tone inferred seemed shackled with angst and anxiety until the bitter was replaced with sweet by a change in the author's circumstances. She didn't seem at peace until the suffering ended, which was disappointing since I had expected the book to communicate hope and encouragement for people in the midst of the bitter. Given the author's experience, it read more like the title could have been "Every Bitter Thing (will one day be) Sweet".

I concur with other review(s) which mention this material seems fitting for an essay, magazine, or a blog. But in published book form, it could have used a co-author/ghost writer or another editor to elevate it to what I look for in Christian memoirs with a message that readers can apply to their own lives. (Books by Catharine Marshall and Jerry Sittser are excellent examples of this genre tightly written in a timeless way if you are looking for a memoir to speak to struggles in life alongside a Loving God.) Like another reviewer mentioned, I wish it hadn't gone to print at this stage as the end result will keep me from purchasing it as a gift for friends going through hard times. I find this to be a relatively new phenomenon in Christian publishing - book deals when the actual manuscript needs attention; would this book have been picked up on its own merits a decade or more ago when sales weren't guaranteed through likes or fans with a built-in blog audience? This is not an attack on the author - she made some helpful observations while narrating her journey, and there are heartfelt quotes that are quite memorable. But I think the publisher did her a disservice to accept this draft as the final opus.

In the early parts of the text, it seemed as a reader that some vulnerability was missing - details seemed glossed over or unclear as the author struggled in her marriage. At times it felt like I was reading a diary that was intentionally vague lest the wrong person pick it up.

Throughout the text spiritual generalizations or conclusions are made based on her experiences as if they should be universal truths, but such conclusions lacked scholarship to buttress them to be universal points for the reader to accurately apply to oneself. I also wish the book (or publisher - it may not have been the author's preference) stuck to being a memoir and left out the scripture references at the end of each chapter; they seemed tagged on to cross-sell the book as small group curriculum, but they could have been more powerful if woven into the narrative when applicable.

I definitely felt like this book tried to tackle too much - the voice seemed focused on declaring what the reader should believe or experience about God, instead of sticking to a memoir format and letting the reader decide what from the story applies to his/her experience too. At times it seemed like it could have been a more cohesive read to have been a straight memoir with the author chronicling her own wrestling in light of a loving God or chronicled her experience of adoption (that's when the book soared - especially the jellyfish story), and spent less time trying to conform the experience to others' spiritual lives too. Let the reader decide if they relate instead of writing it in a format that insinuates this too could/should be their experience. One example is the concept of suffering as a means to learn different aspects or sides of God. Instead of communicating this as her own experience, this concept is written as if it applies to everyone "...From each season emerges a new side of God." I had the impression the author was giving meaning to her suffering by illustrating she was able to learn about the different sides of God because of it. But not everyone learns these sides exclusively through trial. So instead of trying to make it a universal application as written, it would have carried more weight (and my affection), had it been edited to be more of a personal account, "From each season we experienced, it was as if a new side of God emerged for us to know." Not everyone suffers in ways that push them to hunger after God in the way the author did, and yet they are able to know different aspects of God. It seems as though in the author's searching for meaning in the suffering, there are attempts to make conclusions about God at the expense of just living in the mystery of suffering in the face of a Loving God.

One more example that kept it from fully resonating, "...greatest testimony isn't found in those moments of victory over weakness or even in moments of hope fulfilled. It is found in waiting, wanting, adoring. It is found in hunger." Once again - had the word *my* preceded this declaration, I think it would have read stronger and not been unsettling. A testimony of hunger alone is not the gospel - hunger is not "our greatest testimony" - rather it is the hope fulfilled (if not here, then in heaven) - that is what we testify to: a God of Love that resurrects and redeems death and hunger. It seemed at times, as if to give meaning to the suffering that the author has experienced, that her suffering/hunger is glorified in and of itself.

The epilogue of the book felt at odds with the rest of the intended message, as the bulk of the book seemed like the author's struggle to feel chosen despite life circumstances making her feel rejected by God. Some who resonate with the author's experience and find comfort in someone struggling to stay near a God who seems to have forgotten them, may find themselves unable to relate in the end.

I realize that my review sounds more negative than I intend. The problem is more the quality of the writing given the packaging. Her life is a testimony of a woman relentlessly pursuing God despite her hurts. If you read it for that alone you may find it worth the expense. But I can't help but think the epilogue undoes the point the book was trying to make, as instead of finding sweetness and bitterness in the midst of the trial, peace and sweetness became obvious only after the suffering ended. When finally the author is able to say with confidence, "God is good - to me."