What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do

What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do: 8 Principles for Finding God’s Way

by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

Every once in awhile I come across a book that I purchase just to give away.  This is just such a book. 

Feeling lost? Battling addiction or depression?  Experiencing a difficult relationship or medical condition?  Overwhelmed by the condition of the world or the condition of your soul?

In this brief volume, Drs. Cloud and Townsend provide a guidebook for finding your way back onto the path of spiritual and emotional wholeness.  Begin your journey with faith and trust in God. Then take steps to seek supportive relationships and wisdom, forgive, take responsibility, accept that problems can help you grow, and learn to love God.  Three final chapters specifically address depression, addiction, and problems with sex and intimacy.

This book is a deceptively quick read, only 134 pages, but it’s loaded with practical advice gleaned from years of experience as clinical psychologists. Cloud and Townsend emphasize God’s grace, but insist that the journey is a two-step process involving ‘a step of faith in God” followed by “a step of action.”  I like the authors’ conversational tone and the hopeful message.  You are not alone. God will make a way. 

I’m giving my review copy to my pastor, for use in counseling or in Celebrate Recovery.  Then I’m buying another copy--to give away.