When You Are Facing Change

by J. Bill Ratliff

Book Overview

Pastoral counselor J. Bill Ratliff shows that facing change in our lives doesn't have to be a traumatic experience--it can be a time of enlightenment. Ratliff describes the types of chosen and unchosen changes one is likely to encounter in life and then tells how to deal with endings, uncertainties, and new beginnings. If we listen for the voice of God, Ratliff says, we can emerge from a time of major change more whole than we were before we entered.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0664250483
• ISBN13: 9780664250485
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 140 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A great resource for difficult times

I found this book at a local public library and, after reading the book, I decided to buy a copy. Since I'm planning a major relocation, this book was very helpful in confirming that the feelings and reactions I've been experiencing are normal and necessary. I found Mr. Ratliff's words to be very reassuring and inspiring. He includes a quote from Thomas Merton that was so appropriate, "In order to be true to God and to ourselves we must break with the familiar, established and secure norms and go off into the unknown."

Entering the Wilderness

As I write this review, I am hoping that I will be able to purchase a copy of this out-of-print book. I have had access to one section of it, "The Second Phase: The Wilderness" which paints a graphic and very helpful image of change and transition. Ratliff uses the analogy of the wilderness, taken from the 40 years spent by the people of Israel in the wasteland before entering the Promised Land, to describe the emotional changes which occur when one is in the process of transition -- a time of danger, as well as of new assurances of God's faithfulness. I appreciate his accurate and vivid description of this confusing time, as well as the very practical hints he suggests for weathering it. I look forward to reading the rest of the book!

Entering the Wilderness

As I write this review, I am hoping that I will be able to purchase a copy of this out-of-print book. I have had access to one section of it, "The Second Phase: The Wilderness" which paints a graphic and very helpful image of change and transition. Ratliff uses the analogy of the wilderness, taken from the 40 years spent by the people of Israel in the wasteland before entering the Promised Land, to describe the emotional changes which occur when one is in the process of transition -- a time of danger, as well as of new assurances of God's faithfulness. I appreciate his description of this confusing time, as well as the very practical hints he suggests for weathering this time. I look forward to reading more of what Ratliff has to say.