The Way of Letting Go

Author: Wilma Derksen

Publisher: Zondervan

Release Date: February 21, 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

After a life changing event, how do you learn to move on and forgive? This is one of the hardest things there is to do.

No matter the topic, being hurt by a friend or family member or losing a loved one, learning to let go of that pain is a very difficult thing to do. Wilma Derksen gives us 15 misconceptions to look at about grief and how it led her back to hope. Wilma’s world falls apart when her teenage daughter doesn’t come home from school one day.  Seven weeks later her body is found.  It isn’t until decades later that an arrest is made in the murder.  Wilma shares how she let her choice to forgive and let go of the heartbreak to be able to move on with her life.  She encourages trying to find a happy ending through the heartbreak and listening to her advice will hopefully help some break free of the pain they are holding on to.

Reading through this book and sharing the heartbreak Wilma had to go through was very difficult. Being a mother, it is very hard to hear or even think of having to experience this kind of heartache.  My kids are my world and I can’t imagine anything like this happening to them.  I would like to say I would be able to forgive, but it would be incredible difficult.  I loved everything she said about having to forgive and let go of the pain.  If we hold on to that pain, we are never going to be able to move on with our lives and live them the way God intends us to.  There were so many helpful scriptures and bible passages to look at for references to help through the dark times.  It doesn’t have to be someone who has experienced the murder of a child that will benefit from the words here. Every day we all face something that we should let go of to be our happiest; it might be something as simple as a hurt feeling from a friend or loved one, or it could go much deeper and be much harder.  No matter the circumstance we face, we all need to be able to try and be the best person we can be, and that won’t happen if we can’t let go of the negative things we are holding on to.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.