Review of It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered, by Lysa TerKeurst
Lysa’s life wasn’t turning out like it was supposed to. After raising their kids and watching them fly away to college and lives of their own, it was time for her and her husband to enjoy the empty nest. But that’s when he admitted to an affair. So instead of date night any night of the week, now she was home alone, crying into her pillow.
Then the rumor mill started. Lysa was head of a national women’s ministry, but she and her husband were breaking up? Lysa had tried to keep the matter private while she and her husband worked things out, but news or at least half-truths were floating around and now she had to deal with that too.
Then Lysa developed severe abdominal pain that would not go away. For days she lay in the hospital in agony. Finally she was rushed into surgery to remove most of her colon. The surgeon said she had come very close to death. It was actually her pain that let the surgeons know what was wrong and where.
Then Lysa’s town made her move her driveway at her own expense so they could put in a new turn lane.
Then her doctor called to say her mammogram didn’t look right. Yes, it was breast cancer.
Have you experienced an, “It’s not supposed to be like this,” series of events in your life? One of my favorite quotes from this book is Lysa saying,
“God isn’t ever going to forsake you, but he will go to great lengths to remake you.”
She is still fighting some of these battles, and you may be dealing with long-term, seemingly never-ending, compounding problems that just keep stacking up. If that’s you, I recommend this book. It won’t solve all your problems, but it can help you obtain a godly perspective on your trials.

This is the first of Lysa TerKeurst's books that I've read. It was well written and I enjoyed the fact that she brought her own story into the book as examples of the changes she was speaking of. While I am not usually one for books that speak about God this book could be a great resource even for those who do not hold the same beliefs as TerKeurst.

A book about dealing with disappointment and how one handles the fact that they may never get answers to all of their questions about bad events and circumstances. Lysa talks through her own struggles and how God gave her encouragement and hope.

I think someone really struggling would find consolation and understanding from the book. I'm not in that space currently so it wasn't as impactful to me.

Some people say this book is just Lysa whining about herself. Maybe this book was healing for her to write. But there are some gems of wisdom included.

This book could be an emotional read if you are someone who is currently going through or coming out of a difficult circumstance. Lysa's words are encouraging and convicting as she is transparent about her own situations and how she saw God walk her through them.

Since I know Lysa I enjoy her words and God has used her to touch my heart. I truly enjoy her freestyle. I know a lot of editors who wouldn´t agree with me and they would throw away some of her work, but I wouldn´t. That is why I like her, because she has her style intact since I read it. This is a personal book but not just that, she talks about personal things but with deep teachings, we all can apply to our lives. I gave this book to a friend who is going through a painful divorce and she found it helpful, she said it was encouraging, but that she found painful to know that her story won´t have a happy ending like others. So it depends a lot of the reader circumstances how they will deal with the content.

Lysa’s newest book is raw, emotional, and unhindered from the clean cut scene that other books on this topic seem to try to create. Written in the midst of the most challenging trials one can go through (infidelity of a husband, cancer diagnosis, and near death experience), ‘It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way’ is proof that no one is exempt in this world from hardship. Lysa, who is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, wrote this during this hard season of her life.

I have read many of her books and found this one to be much heavier than the others. I expected some heaviness with the topic at hand but felt that at some points it may have been more of a cathartic exercise for herself than for others. One can still get gospel centered encouragement from the book, but it is a weighty book in terms of material.

I did enjoy how she broke each chapter down at the end as usual. She has key truths to remember, verses that support, and a prayer.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love this book. It encouraged you to keep trusting in God in every season of your life. To keep growing in faith.

I am a fan of Lysa TerKeurst and have listened to and read several things by her. I have to admit that this book didn’t speak to me in a way that her other books have.

Lysa wrote this book during a trying time in her life. She was struggling with her husbands infidelity and a cancer diagnosis. This book is written during a very raw and emotional time in her life. I feel like I was a little more focused on her situations instead of the message she was sharing. This is obviously a very personal book that she wrote and it does have some good messages that I focused on more during a second reading.

Lysa is amazing and I recommend giving her books a read.

Lysa shares through her own experiences how God can teach us in our trials. God wants to transform us but the enemy wants to paralyze us.

This is easy reading but pricks your heart and moves you forward at the same time. If you are struggling to get over whatever happened to you (or is happening to you) this book is for you.

A powerful and comforting book for anyone who has struggles at any time in life -- which is all of us. This was a little more religious than I thought it was going to be, which took away some of the appeal for me, but would certainly add appeal to many. Definitely well done and worth reading.

Lysa Terkeurst shares how she was able to to get through her husband's infidelity and her personal battle with cancer.
Her story exemplifies the fact that just because you are a person of faith you not exempted from the bad things that happen to good people especially a high profile person in religious circles (Ms Terkeurst is the president of the Proverbs 31 Ministries). She says that through tough times, she feels that God wasn't picking on her but rather He was picking her to personally live out His promises. She shares her struggle with self-acceptance and focuses more on drawing the lessons from her experience as well as those who are close to her
The book is sectioned into portions where she addresses the issues, challenges with questions provide additional scriptures as well as prayers that you can steal. My favourite chapter is "Fighting Words" which are prayers/mantras/reminders accompanied by scriptures that readers can use when they feel attacked by the enemy. I think I might just plaster them on my wall.

I am a fan of Lysa TurKeurst from viewing her posts on FB and listening to a few of her talks. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into It's not supposed to be this way.

As a woman who has known disappointment and significant health challenge and loss, I anticipated that this read would be a fantastic comfort and encouragement. I found it very heavy and not what I was hoping for at all.

I am grateful to the publisher and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

What a powerful book. I decided to review this because I heard Lysa speak on the subject of “between two gardens” and found it deeply intriguing.

This book is written from a very vulnerable place in in Lysa’s life. She was in the middle of her marriage falling apart, cancer diagnosis and she didn’t know the end of the story. If you follow Lysa at all you know God has brought her through and healed her marriage, but as she wrote this book she didn’t know what would happen.

I love the illustrations that she uses to teach the reader her points. At the end of each chapters is a place to go deeper. Reflect on what chapter and answer questions about your own journey.

A copy of this book was given to me. All opinions are my own.

LOVE. Lysa is an amazing author and gives so much wisdom throughout the pages of this book that she wrote during an incredibly tough season of her life. So thankful to have this book to go back to in difficult times. God is truly doing amazing things through her.

I have read several of Lysa TerKeurst's books and I really appreciate the wisdom and her experience that she brings to each book. This book is about how to handle life when it doesn't go the way you think it will. In Lysa's case, she tells about her grief after finding out about her husband being unfaithful. Lysa is raw and vulnerable in her writing. She does a great job of telling her personal pain while also extending the lessons she learned to the reader who maybe hasn't been in her same situation but has experienced unexpected heartbreak. I found it helpful to read this book one chapter at a time to let the material sink in and reflect on what I learned. If you are looking for wisdom to help you look a difficult time, this book would be a great read for you.

This book felt like one long therapy session. That can be good or bad, depending what you are needing. I am a Lysa fan, but this one was kind of depressing.

Wow! I have read this book and reread several chapters over and over again. It is definitely a book that I will keep re-reading. I’ve shared my thoughts with friends and family. One of my friends purchased this book and absolutely loves it. It has helped her through tough and trying times with her family.

This has a lot of good points, but most of it is not novelty. I couldn't finish it because it dragged. I really do want to empathize with the author, but I just couldn't. Maybe it's because our lives are so different.

This book is beautifully written and filled with hopeful and attainable messages, for everyone, not just Christians even if the book is aimed at them, mostly.
The chapters are well organized and at the end of each one, there is a page or so with the summary of what the reader learned which I found of great help and another page filled with scripture that could be of help as well as a little prayer to help with whatever hardship someone might be going through.
This book takes a lot of the reader's agency because being written by a believer, the author tells us that no matter what, our path is being decided by god so w mostly have to sit down and wait for things to be good again, if we don't like what is happening at a given time. If you are a theist, then this book will be very comforting
I also liked the cover a lot, with the correct balance between light colors that grab our attention and only when we actually focus, lets us see what is wrong with the picture.
Thank you to NetGalley and NelsonBooks for this ARC.