Book Club: Book Review of Healing Family Relationships

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I truly feel blessed with being able to read and review books. Like most families, my own has struggles. So, I was looking forward to reviewing Healing Family Relationships: A Guide to Peace & Reconciliation by Rob Rienow. This 190-page paperback book did not disappoint. I found myself making many notations in the book as well as taking notes.

Rob Rienow presents steps that we can take to find peace and heal problems in our family by sharing many personal experiences as well as Bible references through thirteen chapters. And even though there are no "pat answers or quick fixes...you will find encouragement, hope, and principles from the Bible that will give you practical steps toward healing broken relationships in your family (13-14).

What Will You Find in the Book? 

The thirteen chapters are each set up in a similar manner. There are quotes from the Bible referenced and presented, subsections in each chapter to further help you find just what you need to read, important quotes from the author presented in bigger font and text, and finally questions for reflection and discussion.

The topics reviewed include:

• The power of forgiveness
• Healing through prayer, repentance, listening, acceptance, spiritual warfare, boundaries, compassion, patience, mediators, mercy, and the generations 
• A family miracle – in which the author shares his own personal story with his father

There are great reminders of the love of God and that Jesus will always call us His brother or sister. When we feel we need help in our family relationships, we can ask God over and over for help. "He welcomes the needy, repetitive, constant prayers of His children" (36). What a wonderful reminder!

Rienow also reminds us that our families are under constant spiritual warfare. It has become more obvious to me that so much conflict is also impacted by the unseen world. We often see the problems we have just in relation to our immediate family members but in Healing Family Relationships we read: "Because God so loves and has a divine plan for your family, Satan and the demons hate it" (79). We need to pray, put on the armor of God, and read and read the Bible. 

I recommend Healing Family Relationships: A Guide to Peace & Reconciliation to anyone who is looking to improve relations with their family members. You don't need to have a drastic problem or falling out in order to find words of wisdom in this enlightening book. I think the book would be valuable to large and small families, pastors, ministers, or other church leaders. Since reading the book, I have picked it up more than once to review points made by Rienow and intend to continue to reflect upon the way to heal relationships within my family.