Shirley Brosius

Carol Kent wrote When I Lay My Isaac Down: Unshakable Faith in Unthinkable Circumstances to share the heartbreak she experienced when her son, Jason, shot and killed his wife’s ex-husband. By describing her journey and her desperate struggle to make sense of the tragedy, she gives voice to the questions people ask whenever they bump into hard realities: Why did God allow this to happen? How can we regain faith in the goodness of God? How can God possibly redeem this impossible situation?

Kent, a nationally known Christian speaker, and her husband had enjoyed a full and satisfying life and Jason, a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, had been a model son, husband and father. Kent shares the raw emotion of the experience, the guilt she felt over the possibility of failed parenting and her long slow journey to peace.

The title of the book comes from the story of biblical Abraham when he surrendered his son Isaac as God asked. So Kent has relinquished her right to expect God to return life to normalcy. She has come to the place where God, rather than a resolution to her problem, proves to be sufficient. Since many people may not identify with the kind of situation Kent experiences, she shares the stories of others who have experienced life-changing upheavals in other ways—through rejection, betrayal, addictions, etc.

The whole experience led the Kent family into the unfamiliar world of a prison. There they found needy souls and fresh opportunities for ministry that they continue to explore. The book will inspire any who agonize over difficult situations, no matter the cause. Questions at the ends of chapters help readers process main points and apply them to their own lives. Scriptures and quotations by well-known Christians are well documented on five pages of end notes.

The book pulled you along. I would have liked to know more of Jason’s mindset and his perspective walking through all this, but that would be another book.