Peace for Each Hour

The days -- and even hours -- before, during, and after treatment for cancer call for the good news of the Gospel to overwhelm the bad news of the diagnosis. Nelson (Grace for Each Hour), associate pastor at a 6,000-member Minnesota church and a cancer survivor, approaches these 90 meditations without doubt that Jesus is sovereign over her life. Each often repetitive entry starts with a Bible verse, is beaded with examples from Scripture, and ends with a prayer addressed to "Father." The author focuses on survivors' common fear that breast cancer will return; however, after her own bout in 1999, Nelson chooses to live with certainty,with Jesus, with hope; she exhorts other survivors to do the same. She considers issues such as how believers deal with non-believers; how God reveals Himself through the cancer; and how illness is the enemy crowned by Satan and easily succumbed to without the fortress that is God. Nelson writes not only with direct access to God's love but also with the narcissistic assurance promoted by one experience. It will prove most useful to those who share her theology. (Oct. 1)