Book Written by Gaspar Anastasi
Book Review written by Theresa Harvard Johnson
I’ve read many books on healing from emotional pain over the years. Some were required reading through varying classes or workshops; and others were recommended by leaders and mentors. While each book was biblically rooted and had value in their offerings, I often found myself thinking that if a person has read one of them then they’ve read them all. I would secretly say to myself, “Same message. Different author.” After all I thought, discussions on healing in book form are about as refrigerated as it gets within the Christian community.
This personal, opinionated summation almost caused my eyes to glaze over the true, hidden treasure inside “Stop Hurting, Start Healing” by Gaspar Anastasi. The beautifully designed book cover captured and held my attention as I reflected on the huge oak tree planted in an ocean of snow skirted beside a frozen river – half alive, half dead.
This was significant for me because I am rarely moved by the design of a book cover; however in this instance, I knew that the image was compelling me to take a closer look. I knew it was speaking prophetically concerning the content inside.
I must tell you, I wasn’t disappointed.
Stop Hurting, Start Healing is a refreshing, experienced, wisdom-filled, revelational approach to living life in Christ free of wounds, emotional torment and pain. While tried and true elements of the healing journey in Christ unfolds between each page, Anastasi takes the reader beyond a “sympathetic-compassionate-ear” and the “how-to-break-free-approach” to a place of reality which says: “Yes. God can heal you but you must be an attentive, willing and active participant in that process. It’s one thing to receive a measure of healing, but quite another to be made whole.”
In other words, Anastasi doesn’t simply empathize with the person in emotional pain or provide them with compassionate steps to be free. With Holy Spirit guiding, he confronts the need for every person who has been wounded to embrace “death to self” and seek complete wholeness in which the past is completely left in the past – with no residue or hope of resurfacing in any way other than a testimony. For me, some of my favorite sections included: God Won’t Attend Your Pity Party; Promotion: Compliments of Your Enemy; Spiritual Smoke Damage; Good Pain and Faulty Concepts About Forgiveness.
The pacifiers and milk bottles will come out of the mouths of those reading this book. The amount of time spent on this necessary theme, at least for me, is what separates Stop Hurting, Stop Healing from other books in this genre. Anastasi leaves no stone unturned, and there are absolutely no park benches between the pages that allow readers to nurse their wounds. As a person who had to deal with some deep rooted pain, I could see myself in so many of the truths presented solely based on the Word. Some of us need the truth spelled out plain and simple, and I was one of those people.
Great time is given in addressing everything from playing games in ones process to the very real impact of anger, offense, unforgiveness and bitterness in healing – and rightly so. It brings the reader into a mature understanding of Christ’s vision for inner reconciliation and its relevant to every believer – not just some. Truly, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free.
Anastasi shows that while legitimate injury and hurt takes place in a person’s life, it is never okay to hang on to it; and that the “hurting person” must acknowledge and take full responsibility for their own role in that process. Quite honestly, the thoroughness revealed here blessed me beyond measure. Father showed me that there is an apostolic grace to heal and be made whole waiting to be released in the hearts of those assigned to this book.
Readers, the apostolic anointing pours from Stop Hurting, Start Healing with such tenderness, grace and merciful reassurance. I have added it to my list of reference tools concerning emotional healing and deliverance and would highly recommend it as such to clergy or individuals.
Meet Gaspar Anastasi
Thirty years of pastoral counseling has given Gaspar Anastasi, senior pastor of Word of Life Ministries, much expertise in inner healing. He founded and is director of The New Life Dream Centers for addiction recovery and Global Church Fellowship International. He is also apostolic overseer of Word of Life World Outreach Center and SW Florida Regional Pastors and Leaders in Fort Myers, Florida. For more information visit, http://stophurtingstarthealing.com.
Book: Stop Hurting, Start Healing
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Destiny Image (August 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0768432510
ISBN-13: 978-0768432510
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.4 x 8 inches
Purchase: Amazon.com
