Unbroken Faith: Spiritual Recovery for the Special Needs Parent by Diane Dokko KimMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
It would offend my sensibilities to give this book any less than five stars.
I wanted to underline every word of Unbroken Faith. Diane Kim doesn’t waste words. She crafts each sentence with meticulous skill; there is no fluff. Sometimes when authors include scripture passages in their text, I skim over them, thinking, “Yeah, I’ve read that one before.” With Kim’s book, I hung on every word because it’s so relevant and affecting. She weaves scripture into her text in a way that makes it come alive in a fresh way.
Another aspect of the book that stood out to me was the masterful way she intertwines her point of view as the parent of a child with special needs, biblical figures who struggled with the same questions she faces, and the perspective of God as he views us as his children with special needs.
Throughout the book, I saw how the questions she asks apply to my own experience, specifically regarding areas of hurt, devastating losses, and difficult diagnoses, among others. I knew she truly understood the overwhelming feelings I have experienced in those situations, even though I have never experienced life as the mother of a special needs child.
This realization gradually rose as I read until I suddenly saw myself as a child with special needs and God as the parent who longed to do everything in his power to care for me. I was completely undone when I read how she tried to get her child to speak to her. Despite her own to desire to simply give him what he wanted, Kim encouraged her son to practice the communication skills he was learning to request the item. Reading this exchange left me in a puddle of healing tears. The abuse and trauma I experienced growing up made it difficult for me to figure out how to talk to God. I imagine he is just as overjoyed every time I speak to him.
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