He Will Hold Me Fast: A Journey with Grace Through Cancer

“Connie Dever's book He Will Hold Me Fast is honest, penetrating and deeply moving. I love the way she weaves Bible passages and quotations through her story.”

“I remember reading Connie’s Facebook posts as she chronicled her journey through cancer. Some days she would post how the Lord was bearing her up, some days she expressed her fears and asked for prayer, some days it was a photo of a beautiful scenery from her mountain retreat offering praise to God for the beauty of His creation. It was indeed a privilege to share in her times of pain and radiation and insomnia, as well as in her seasons of peace and rest. I was strangely drawn to her story as she expressed the raw and real trials and joys that accompany suffering. Even more, I was drawn towards Christ whose tender care and faithfulness was so evident in these journal entries. I believe your heart will be encouraged to persevere in your own trials, to pray for others who are suffering, to praise our Savior for demonstrations of His love and His glory displayed in the big and small, and in the difficult and smooth paths that He places before us.”

“After suffering, we often forget how the dark times actually felt. We remember that they happened, that we wondered whether we’d ever laugh again. But how they felt is hard to recall. Yet loving others who suffer requires our empathy. The beauty of Connie’s book is that it’s her journal—her raw emotions, fears, and hopes—in the midst of her suffering. And, therefore, it’s a companion for anyone who is suffering because it remembers the dark times—and the hope we can have in them.”

“The blogposts of Connie Dever as she pursues her pilgrimage through cancer country on her way to the promised land are the stuff of a spiritual classic: highly reserved yet searingly candid. They are reserved with respect to family, friends, and daily events, but this reserve tends to sharpen the focus on the clarity of Connie’s fight against the demons of fear and unbelief. Here is a Christian who wrestles with God and shares her struggles with her readers, a Christian who seeks out the joy of the Lord in the midst of radiation–induced nausea, a Christian who cherishes and knows how to read her Bible, a Christian who is never tempted to portray herself as a fine exemplar of the ‘victorious Christian life’ but whose sparkling honesty testifies, through the tears, that ‘he will hold me fast.’”

“Reading Connie's spiritual diary-like posts through this relentless journey helped me personally and pastorally. They helped me process some of my own struggles and they helped me understand those I serve, especially in their often-hidden battles of the heart.”