Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Our True Calling

Find freedom and healing from painful memories and relational struggles and learn how your past has uniquely prepared you to experience more joy.

Tragedy and pain inevitably touch our lives in some way. We long to feel whole, but more often than not, the way we've learned to deal with our wounds pushes us away from the very restoration we need most. Renowned psychologist Dr. Dan Allender and counselor and teacher Cathy Loerzel present a life-changing process of true connection and healing with ourselves, God, and others.

With a clear, biblically trustworthy method, Allender and Loerzel walk you through a journey of profound inner transformation--from the shame and hurt of old emotional wounds to true freedom and healing. Drawn from modern research and their pioneering work at The Allender Center, they will help you identify your core trauma in one of the three outcast archetypes--the widow, orphan, or stranger--and chart your path of growth into the God-given roles of priest, prophet, or leader. This book will help you learn:

• What to do about feeling out-of-place and directionless
• How your coping mechanisms create a false sense of health
• How to embrace your divine calling and find lasting reconciliation
• How your heart wounds are your unique invitation to true strength and purpose.

Your past pain does not dictate your life. Answer the call to healing and discover your life's beautiful story and a future of hope and freedom.

ISBN-13: 9780310362012

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication Date: 09-14-2021

Pages: 272

Product Dimensions: 9.10(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.00(d)

Dr. Dan Allender is a pioneer of a unique and innovative approach to trauma and abuse therapy. After receiving his master of divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary, Dan earned his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Michigan State University. Dan previously served on faculty at the Biblical Counseling Department of Grace Theological Seminary (1983-1989) and Colorado Christian University (1989-1997). In 1997, Dan and a cadre of others founded the Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. Dan served as president of the Seattle School from 2002-2009. In 2011, The Allender Center was founded to cultivate healing and train leaders and mental health professionals to courageously engage others’ stories of harm. Dan continues to serve as professor of counseling psychology at the Seattle School. Cathy Loerzel is cofounder of the Allender Center. Combining her background in organizational leadership and development with an MA in counseling psychology, she is a respected leader, instructor, and speaker. Over the past decade, she has also helped to develop the groundbreaking Trauma Informed Narrative Theory. She and her husband live in Seattle with their two children, two dogs, and a flock of chickens. Visit her at cathyloerzel.com and on Instagram at @cathy.loerzel.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Our Longing for Peace 1

Part 1 The Shattering

1 Something Isn't Right with the World 11

2 The Search for Eden 23

3 Trauma's Ongoing Cost 38

Part 2 The Six Types

4 Orphans: A Hunger That Betrays 51

5 A Priest's Faith 68

6 Strangers: A Separation That Shames 81

7 A Prophet's Hope 98

8 Widows: A Grief That Imprisons 117

9 A Royal Love 135

Part 3 Restoring Shalom

10 Embodying Jesus 155

11 Embracing Our Calling 171

12 Joining the Feast 184

Acknowledgments 199

Appendix 1 Statement on Allender Theory 205

Appendix 2 The Enneagram and Allender Theory 208

Application Guide 219

Notes 237