Kathi Macias (Award-winning author of more than 40 books http: //kathimacias.com/about-kathi-macias) "From the depths of agony and loss, Pastor Alan Lester has penned a message of hope and healing to a hurting world. Because he has recently walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death with his beloved wife and helped his children do the same, he is now able to speak both personally and practically with a passion born of grief and sorrow. Hurting in Hope: Mom Has Died is a book of ever-deepening faith, which will both bless and challenge you-and one you will not soon forget." Shoved into an inescapable disaster, ALAN LESTER is forced to make a phone call to his sixteen-year-old daughter, CHYREECE; mom has died. After uttering those words, he remains on the line with her, driving numbly along a muddy farm road, through a violent South African thunderstorm. He briefly recalls other terrible moments when his recently deceased wife CHARLEEN had faced similar news. Even her elder brother, her last remaining relative, had died very suddenly just over two weeks previously, and now the time of her own death had come. The author skims over nineteen years of beautiful married love, culminating in a final encapsulating thought; he and his wife had not parted with untidy loose ends because they had learned to live their goodbye. At the time of her death, there had been nothing left unsaid. This tranquillity extended even into the very moment of his wife's heartbreaking moment of death. Instead of wandering alone in a morbid wasteland after his wife's death, the author describes the beautiful ways in which family gave him a new place to call home. This compassionate family life was not limited to biological family members, but extended even to the household of God-the church. He gives testimony of genuine loving relationships that bore the brunt of the author's weakness. Dr. Josh Mack (Pastor of Living Hope Church, Pretoria, South Africa www.livinghopechurch.co.za http: //joshnmarda.wordpress.com) "I am so glad God has given us examples of how to honor Him in the most difficult moments. For me, Alan Lester has been one of those. As I have watched him grieve and as I have listened to him pray and as I have heard him sing and as I have seen him continue to live for Christ in the midst of intense pain, I have often wished others would have the opportunity to learn from him as well. I am thankful he's written this book because I believe it gives a real life glimpse into the way God's grace can change the way we as Christians live, love, suffer and comfort those in pain."