Struck

In this intriguing memoir, Presbyterian pastor Ramsey (Behold the Lamb of God) delves into what happened to his faith when his body began to fail. Three days before he turned 40, doctors told Ramsey that a bacterial infection had destroyed his mitral valve and he was in the early stages of heart failure. He committed to paying attention to all the experiences the journey would bring. Ramsey details the spiritual lessons he found in his ordeal, the distance he sometimes felt from God, and the ways in which he found himself reassuring loved ones who often took his affliction harder than he did himself. Ramsey isn’t afraid to embrace hard topics honestly, asking “What sort of faith could I honestly claim if I required the God I believed in to do only what made sense to this earthbound creature?” He is also endearingly vulnerable and humorous in describing the fallout of his affliction, such as when he vented an unexpected and unbidden string of profanity in response to a neurological miscue. This candid and compassionate set of reflections on suffering will appeal widely. (Mar.)