In the Cleft Joy Comes in the Mourning
Subtitle: A Story of Hope After Tragedy
Publisher: Xulon Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Maitland Florida
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 254
ISBN-13: 9781498408745
Description: This book deserves more than 5 stars as it is deeply embedded in the mystery of God's love. The author needs to be congratulated on her courage to write this painful book as her journey in revealing her heart and pain has been relived in every letter that she has typed.

It would have been human to have given up after all Dana Goodman has been through, but her strength is clearly grounded in the God of Love. Her struggles just seemed to bombard her, her heart being ripped apart through loss. But her amazing gift to keep going is echoed in this statement:

"In the broken moments of our lives, seeds are planted in the very rich soil of God's kindness and when those seeds are showered with his love they bear much fruit and multiply. Just when I thought nothing could grow in the barren waste of broken dreams, seeds began to grow into beautiful plants of love and hope."

However, this hope did not just come to the author, she had to endure many years of excruciating pain and suffering. She truly understands the agony of Calvary but above all has witnessed the Resurrection that comes after death. Her faith is proof of this. A lot people would trash God and leave Him, bitter and tormented by the challenges given to them. But Dana Goodman held on with her fingernails to hope. The support of her family and Christian friends too gave her the glimpse that not all was lost. Greatness and healing could come out of the ashes.

This book is truly inspirational and a must read for those that have suffered loss, especially the loss of a child. I confess I cried often, but tears are the ointment of God's healing balm.

I highly recommend this amazing account of an exceptional woman's journey to hell and back. Dana Goodman stayed focused on God, at times tentatively, understandably so, but none the less, still communicating with Love even though He seemed at times silent and distant.

Be warned this book will change you.

Review by Margaret Kazmierczak
Table of contents: title: Contents; title: Foreword; title: Who’s Who
label: Chapter 1; title: Stumbling In The Dark
label: Chapter 2; title: New Beginnings
label: Chapter 3; title: Land Mines
label: Chapter 4; title: Tear Soup
label: Chapter 5; title: Mayhem
label: Chapter 6; title: Times In Between
label: Chapter 7; title: My Boys
label: Chapter 8; title: The Absence Of Light
label: Chapter 9; title: Life In the Valley
label: Chapter 10; title: Sorrow Unending
label: Chapter 11; title: Lamentation
label: Chapter 12; title: Aftermath
label: Chapter 13; title: Beautiful Things Out Of Dust
label: Chapter 14; title: Nakuru, Kenya
label: Chapter 15; title: God Is Love
label: Chapter 16; title: Afterword; title: Acknowledgments