Kindle Edition Amazon The Write to Inspire Category:  Inspirational Publisher: Revell/Baker ISBN-10:  0800720237 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 208 Copyright: October 1, 2012 ISBN-13: 9780800720230 Nothing can sap a person's strength and hope quite like a cancer diagnosis--unless it is the energy-stealing chemotherapy and surgeries faced in the fight against cancer. But one can find hope and strength in the pages of Scripture and in the experience of someone who has been there. In Strength Renewed, breast cancer survivor and registered nurse Shirley Corder combines encouraging personal stories with life-giving passages from the Bible to help you process your diagnosis and find encouragement along the way. These 90 devotions can be read in order as you move through your cancer journey, but each devotion also stands on its own, so you can go directly to the entry that speaks to your need--right now. You have a partner and a cheerleader in Shirley--and in God--on the rough road ahead. Let Strength Renewed lift you up as you travel.       Excerpt INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK: "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles." Isaiah 40:31 When I received my diagnosis of cancer, I didn’t know anything about eagles. I wanted to renew my strength, but how do you wait on anyone, even the Lord, when you’re told you have cancer? Over the following months, I learned much about eagles and even more about myself. I’m not naturally patient, but the eagle is, and so is the Lord. Gradually I learned what it meant to wait on Him, and each time I did, He renewed my strength. Strength Renewed contains ninety meditations based on lessons I learned during my journey in the cancer valley. When I was a student nurse, I studied the subject of cancer. I went on to care for patients at various stages of the disease. As a pastor’s wife I knew the havoc cancer brought to the families of patients, and I often became part of the support team. I saw the destructive power of cancer and the way it seemed to devastate not only the body but often the spirit too. I thought I understood cancer. Yet on November 10, 1997, I discovered how little I knew of the physical, emotional, and spiritual roller coaster that cancer creates. It took three short words spoken by an uncaring radiologist: “You have cancer.” I’d heard those words before, but this time they were directed at me.

Wonderful Resource for Those Fighting Cancer
"Strength Renewed" consists of 90 devotions which follow Shirley Corder's cancer journey chronologically, but they can be read in any order as each one stands alone. Shirley's upbeat personality, laced with her lovely sense of humour, shines through this beautifully written book. She comes alongside her readers as she chats with honesty and transparency about the roller coaster ride of having cancer, her treatment, recovery and personal relationships. Her faith in God is evident throughout the book.

The meditations can be read on several different levels. Whether you want encouragment from the Bible, down-to-earth tips, words of hope, a short prayer or a connection with someone who really knows what the cancer valley is like because they've been there, you'll find it in this book. Shirley has included three questions in each devotion for those who wish to explore the cancer journey in more depth.

Shirley's prayer in the introduction is that "this book will strengthen your faith." My brush with cancer was many years ago, but I found much in "Strength Renewed" to strengthen my faith today.

I strongly recommend "Strength Renewed". It's an outstanding resource for anyone with cancer and for their companions on the journey through the cancer valley.

Highly Recommended - Not Just for Cancer Patients
From ants to eagles, nothing escapes the author's attention in this transparent spiritual diary through the valley. Her honesty and spiritual depth will encourage the reader, no matter the trial at hand. While the details focus on breast cancer and that particular journey, many of the meditations are pertinent to people going through other trials.

The scriptures she cited are the ones I fell back on after the tragic loss of three grandchildren. They are places I seek solace and comfort when trying to comfort the surviving mother who nearly died at the same time. And the search for meaning that we need to leave in the hands of God is the same for every trial in the believer's life.

I have no concept of how one gets through the trials of life without a faith in God. This book, Strength Renewed, gives the reader a means of establishing that relationship.

While specific to breast cancer and by extension to other cancer survivors, this book should not be neglected by anyone seeking to deepen a relationship with God. It is, perhaps, one of the reasons God allowed the author to go through this valley.

Well written, honest, and spiritually sound, I will be recommending this book and giving it to others.

Recommended Reading and Sweet Comfort in Life's Storms
I am not a breast cancer survivor, but I've staggered through other life storms, hanging on by the fingernails, not sure whether I'd survive one more tempest. It is to the storm-tossed that author Shirley Corder's Strength Renewed speaks compellingly, asking familiar heart cries. Are you still there, God? Who did this? Why me? What now? But also offering a lifeline of faith, hope, comfort birthed from the author's own odyssey through the dark valleys and deep pits of breast cancer. Above all the precious reminder that however raging the storm, sanctuary can be found in the cradling, comforting, all-powerful hand of a loving heavenly Father.

This book is also a great resource for family and friends of those battling cancer--a lot of practical information and tips along with the inspirational. Recommended reading and sweet comfort, whatever your life's weather.