Katherine Wolf

2.5 stars

I heard Katherine speak at IF:Gathering 2016 and she was one of the few speakers I actually liked - she was so funny! I picked this up to hear more of her story, figuring she'd bring her humor into this, also. She didn't.

The book isn't poorly written, but it was a fairly dry memoir compared to others I've read. It focused on what happened, and while Jay and Katherine's emotions were mentioned here and there, the readers were never given a chance to really sit with them and soak in the suffering. They were so quick to point out that God is good and has a plan (true things, to be sure) that it made their suffering almost seem insincere.

While I didn't connect with this one on the whole, I do have a couple favorite quotes:

"[God] knows this is part of the story He is writing for me, for my family, and for all of the creation He is making right. It is not a plan B, and I trust that." (p. 18)

"All my life, before the stroke, I had been confident, admired, and strong. I know in my head that I still am these things in many ways, but when your life is taken down to zero, it's hard not to feel that your ability to contribute as a human being is also zero..." (p. 192)… (mer)

Hope Heals: A true Story of lost and overcoming Love. Katherine and Jay Wolf. 2016. I don’t think anyone who has lived in Montgomery for any length of time doesn’t know of Jay Wolf, the long time pastor of First Baptist Church. This is the bitter sweet story of his son, Jay and his wife Katherine.. Young Jay and Katherine were living a perfect life in Malibu, California. He was in law school at Pepperdine and she was a successful model. The beautiful happy couple had a small son and life was a good, very good until tragedy struck. Katherine suffered a brain stem stroke. She was not expected to live; she lost part of her brain in the surgery that saved her life. This book written in alternating parts by Jay and Katherine describes their life before and after and goes into great detail about her struggle to recover. This is a beautiful story of faith in God and faith in themselves and their marriage.… (mer)