Healing Takes Time

Using this book will help the grieving person to regularly set aside a few minutes: to pray and turn to God for the help needed.

Because `Healing Takes Time,' Dr. David Gallagher's deceptively brief devotional is all the more important as a companion along the way. For those who have experienced loss in any of its shattering and life-transforming manifestations, this book is a sensitive and encouraging guide. With a seasoned pastor's deep store of experiences and a fellow-sufferer's intimate knowledge of the terrain of grief, Dave shares his vignettes, drawn from his own life and from the losses of those he knows. With a word of Scripture, a brief prayer, and a suggestion or encouragement, he makes God's own concern palpable and real.

In his book, Healing Takes Time, Dr. David Gallagher gently takes the reader's hand and together they walk the tough journey towards spiritual wellness through scripture promises and quiet reflections. His support and guidance smooth the rough spots as his gentle voice quiets the restless and provides hope for those who need understanding. Above all, his faith in God's love and compassion for each of us brightly lights the way.

The vignettes, useful Scriptural encouragement, questions for self-reflection, practical-step suggestions, and prayers are relevant, sensitive, and helpful in providing guidance for the healing journey that takes time-with God's help and His healing touch.

Dr. Gallagher invites you on a journey of healing in Healing Takes Time. It is a practical guide, offering encouragement for the times when we feel so alone in our loss, offering hope that, in time, God heals our hurts-He is faithful!

David Gallagher has carefully written a book that is sensitive, encouraging, and relevant to all who experience loss. The 52 meditations include themes, scripture passages and personal response that draw you into truth and understanding. I found myself wanting to read more because it made so much sense as I thought of loss in my own life and the lives of friends. This book will be used to heal you and those you know to work through loss and experience healing over time.

Dr. David Gallagher's new book is a winner---big time. It is steeped in the elements of love, forgiveness, grace and hope---through all our tears. Healing does come for any and all who can see the hand of God at work even in the dark clouds that hover all around us. The real-life stories-like the bird guarding the bird feeder, the tragedy of 9-11 and the famous quote of Winston Churchill and others make for great insights and vital topics of discussion. Lay people and staff members of the wider church will find in this fresh devotional book a clear and workable path on the road to healing.

Transitions are hard. In fact, they can be devastating! But why do people who experience the same loss end up at different places? While some stop living and simply exist for the rest of their years . . . others rebound and even excel beyond their previous limits. This book can make a difference in one outcome of the other for many people who will experience such transitions.

From the person who is bereaved or otherwise experiencing loss of hurt, Healing Takes Time is written as a gentle companion-not a theoretical treatise or an instructional manual or a set of lectures or sermon, but as a pastoral encouragement and support. There is nothing intrusive about it. People who turn to it repeatedly over days and weeks will find solace and help, here from an anecdote, there from a carefully chosen quotation from Scripture; along the way a suggestion fro prayer or a useful insight from the day's title or some refreshment simply from the repeated reminder to `take some moments and rest with God.' Dr. Gallagher is a patient and gracious pastor in a time of great need.

Take some time and sit with my friend David for a while. In time past, he was my pastor. He remains my friend and a fine example of what a pastor should be. In our events, in our losses and in our victories, God's presence is palpable, if we listen and allow god's touches upon us. Allow God's touches upon you through the stories, exercises and encouragement in this book. Take some time, sit for a season, and allow David to offer some of God's caring touches.

Dr. Dave Gallagher offers 60 vignettes drawn from his rich lifetime of being a compassionate, involved and available pastor. His godly optimism shines brightly in his life, in his counseling ministry and in this book on encouragement. As he states `It's easy to say I trust God; it is quite another thing to live that out in my daily life.' Dr. Dave's practical and scriptural lessons will help you meet life's difficult challenges.

Written by a pastor with years of experience in helping people work through the grieving process, this book can guide and encourage sufferers to see their losses from God's perspective. Each of the sixty brief, to-the-point meditations includes an illustration from Gallagher's life, relevant Scripture passages for reflection, questions for personal response, action steps to take, and a brief prayer to voice. This warmhearted, uplifting book offers God's comfort to anyone facing emotional sorrow, physical pain, or spiritual heartache.

Dr. Gallagher knows what loss and grief is-from his own life and from his ministry. Each chapter in this dynamic book moves from personal experience, to relevant scripture, to practical self-examination questions, and finally to powerful encouragement. Every religious leader should have a copy of this book to give to any parishioner going through any loss. It will help.

Like many of us, David Gallagher knows the pain of loss, both his and others. But David also knows the power of God to heal us in the mist of this pain. This wise, seasoned pastor provides no sweet words, no empty promises, but rather the caring hand that points the way forward in the love of God.

Dr. David has done it again! Healing Takes Time is Biblical, helpful, and practical. While avoiding cliché phrases, Dr. David brings help and hope for all who are experiencing pain and loss. We will be using this book in our church!

Dr. David Gallagher has brought together in a series of short meditations a helpful word for those suffering the pangs of grief. Their brevity is an asset in a busy world whose demands even the grief-stricken cannot evade. Were one to read only the theme sentence for each meditation, it would provide life for the spirit. But Dr. Gallagher adds some touching vignettes to help the grieving gain the resolution to persevere. Throughout, this book is written with an eye firmly fixed on the Christian hope.