The Healing Choice: How to Move Beyond Betrayal by Brenda Stoeker, Susan Allen

In the wake of betrayed intimacy, you may feel nauseated, angry, humiliated, desperate. Why am I not enough for him? Can our marriage be saved–and do I even want to try? Will this unbearable ache ever go away? Amid the devastation that follows a spouse’s sexual disloyalty, you need to know that you are not alone. God walks alongside you, offering comfort and a promise to transform the pain of the present into hope for the future.

In addition, there is a community of women who know firsthand the agony caused by a husband’s sexual compromises and who offer the compassion, strength, and biblical wisdom you need to make healthy decisions for yourself and your family. The Healing Choice reveals the hope-filled stories of two such women, authors Brenda Stoeker and Susan Allen, who draw on their own experiences and those of many others to offer step-by-step advice for rediscovering intimacy with God and finding the support you need to move toward genuine spiritual and emotional restoration. Their down-to-earth insights light the path toward help and healing for every woman who longs to move beyond the pain of broken trust and experience God’s promise of hope.

My Review:
The book is divided into two parts. The first part is Brenda's story, the traumatizing experience and subsequent death of her mother from mesothelioma--lung cancer. As a Christian, she felt that God had betrayed and abandoned her. She felt out of control and makes the case that her suffering parallels that of a woman whose wandering husband has betrayed and abandoned her.

The second part of the book is Susan's Unintended Journey. She tells her experiences of the heartbreak of being married to a man trapped in pornography addiction. Adultery and abuse are touched on as well. The topics are grim. As Susan writes, "It is a certainty that you aren't reading this book for your pleasure." Both sections of the book are filled with Bible verses to help direct a path back to God if the healing choice is made, and that's the key--it is a choice.

I feel that the first half of the book is the weaker half. The second half begins to tackle the problems. This book would be of help to women in any of these circumstances. A workbook is sold as a companion.