Karen Brough. Be Held by Him. WrttenbyGodsGirl.com, 2021.
Karen Brough. Be Held by Him Guidebook. WrttenbyGodsGirl.com, 2021.

I doubt if readers have ever come across a book quite like Be Held by Him. Of course, it has elements of other writings, but this is distinctive, if not unique. But even more than that, it can be uplifting and refreshing. There is a lot of bad news out there. How do we handle it?

Mrs. Brough got some really bad news. In her thirties, a married mother (“mum,” she’s an Aussie), she suddenly come down with a still-undiagnosed medical condition that caused her great fatigue and loss of strength. Once, she tells us, she went to a son’s recital. All she had to do was ride in a car for a few miles, sit in the audience, and return home. It took her three days to recover from the exertion. At one point she observes:

Sitting in yet another doctor’s waiting room, I sighed heavily. These kind of places had become my second home. (1703)

I was naturally reminded of the Book of Job. That book shows us two possible responses to hard trials. One was typified by Job’s wife who told him to “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). It is understandable to blame God for misfortunes. If he is supposed to be almighty, why does He let evil things happen? The response can be to get mad at God, and even reject or curse Him.

The second response is that of Job. He sought God for an answer, for help. Eventually, God did reply, but His reply was indirect. He did not give a cause-effect answer. Instead, He pointed Job to Himself and His nature. That was sufficient. After his trial, Job ended up being more blessed than before.

Mrs. Brough takes the second path. As can be told even from the title, being held by God during a trial is in the long run superior to denying or forgetting Him. Indeed, because Mrs. Brough was incapable of doing much of anything, one could say she had more free time to spend with God. As a result, He revealed many things about Himself from His Word. This is what she shares in her books.

Be Held by Him does not unfold chronologically. At the beginning, we are given her condition. That is all. Besides her extreme fatigue, there apparently is some fluid buildup in the feet and some blood loss somehow. She says very little about her symptoms. She explains a little bit more in the Guidebook which is meant to accompany the main book. Instead, she contrasts her condition with the nature of God and His love for her and His creation in general.

The fairest observation I can make is that there is a lot of power and a lot of truth in these books. At some point she reaches an understanding that her situation in the large scheme of things is no different from that of most people:

Understand that no one is wholly secure all the time. That is because all people are on their own journey through life and growth. (1147)

The Lord tells her:

If you are good at all things, how will you experience My goodness? If I allowed you to walk through life without hardships, how would your humility and awe of me grow? (2062)

I was reminded of Jeremiah 9:23-24 and I Corinthians 1:26-29.

She gradually begins to realize:

I KNEW THE TIME HAD COME. I NEEDED TO STAND ON MY OWN CONNECTION TO GOD RATHER THAN THAT OF OTHERS. (1825, author’s capitals)

This is not so much a story of her journey, but observations she makes along the way. Both books are arranged in sixteen topical chapters. They really focus not just on her reality but the way God sees things. Even some of the chapter subtitles illustrate this.

1. Rest: What to Do When You Can’t Do Anything
2. Be Still: One Solution to a Racing Mind
3. Giving and Receiving: But Needy Is Hard, Lord…
5. Never Alone: Isolation Is a Lie (80, author’s italics)

And so on.

The Be Held by Him Guidebook is a study guide or workbook that parallels the book, having the same sixteen chapters. It includes responses and some additional details. For example, we actually learn about when she first came down with her condition at the beginning of the Guidebook. There are questions for the reader to answer, some prayers, more words of encouragement, some exercises to try, and lists of mostly contemporary songs to listen to. In other words, these books together are meant for the reader to take some time absorbing and responding to.

For example, on the chapter about prayer, one of the suggested Guidebook activities is this:

Read through the Psalms and take note of how David and God spoke to one another. Note whether David held back from God in his speech. How was he able to be honest and raw, but still honoring? How can David’s style of communication help you in this current tough space? Consider how God and you communicate with one another. (Guidebook 1664)

Not only does Mrs. Brough have something to share, she wants us to share with her.

Like the Book of Job, Be Held by Him and the Be Held by Him Guidebook can have a truly inspiring effect on readers. I am reminded of Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place. For those unfamiliar with that biography, Corrie and her sister Betsie were Dutch women arrested by the occupying Germans during World War II and sent to a concentration camp. While there Betsie told Corrie that when they get out they can testify that there is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still. “And they will listen because we have been there.” Betsie died in the camp, but Corrie was released and many listened to her because of what she suffered.

That is also true of Mrs. Brough. What she shares is not some hypothetical theology. It is raw and real because she, too, has “been there.” Read each book, a chapter at a time, and be blessed.

N.B. References are Kindle locations, not page numbers.