Sarah Thebarge - Well: Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in West Africa

Sarahs storytelling is so engaging that you wont want to put this book down, but it is her heart that will grab you. Her observations are honest and gritty at times, and you will wrestle with her through difficult tensions. But in her exploration of brokenness, you will also find grace and beauty. On a planet loaded with pain, death, and poverty, Sarahs words are a gentle reminder that each of us is called to participate in the healing of our world as we seek to follow Jesus.

Santiago Jimmy Mellado, president and CEO,
Compassion International

With a style and voice that is powerful, eloquent, and sincere, Sarah Thebarge takes us on a journey of faith through her own physical struggles as well as those experienced while working in a hospital in Togo, West Africa. Many books attempt to provide answers, but few do it in such a profound waywhile walking us through the honest, deep questions that arise from the messiness of life and the mystery of God. WELL is an important book that will stand the test of time and it will profoundly shape and inform your understanding of Christian spirituality and the love of God.

Ken Wytsma, founder of The Justice Conference and
author of Pursuing Justice and Create vs. Copy

This is a beautiful and soul-piercing story of Jesus with skin on, walking the halls of an underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded hospital in West Africa. Of selfless love poured out. Emptied. And then poured out some more. Told with such self-effacing honesty and emotional transparency, it wholly unmasked my own indifference. I closed the last page in tears, and said, Lord, I am so sorry. Please help me love like this. I havent been this moved by a story since Heavenly Man .

Charles Martin, New York Times bestselling author of Unwritten ,
Long Way Gone , and The Mountain Between Us

WELL is a powerful bookthe kind that knocks you out of the complacency that infects our lives and shows you the beautiful, brutal drama of life.
I understand what compassion means in a way I never have before.

Mike the Science Guy McHargue, author of Finding God in the Waves and host of Ask Science Mike and The Liturgists Podcast

Words like love , compassion , courage , and faith easily become clichs feel-good sentiments that go on greeting cards. If you read Sarah Thebarges new book, those words will become more meaningful for you than theyve ever been sturdy, substantial, incandescent. Sarah is a supremely gifted writer and she has a powerful story to tell that is worth your precious time.

Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration

With a faith shaped through service and sharpened by real experience, Sarah Thebarge responds from the depths of her heart with the question we should have been asking all along: not Why does God allow suffering? but Why do we? Sarahs piercing, loving insights in this book, told through the stories of her medical service in West Africa, will grow your faith, improve the questions you ask, and help you on your journey to find better answers. WELL will move you.

Michael Wear, author of Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America

This book shook me to my core. It is harrowing and beautiful. It challenged my faith and strengthened it. Sarah asks the hardest questions over and over. She sifts our platitudes until all thats left is truth and love strong enough to hold us all.Sheila Walsh, author, cohost of LIFE Today

In the course of our lives adventures, some of us learn how to practice compassion, and some of us run away from it. Sarah Thebarges work reminds me that compassion is not a character trait as much as it is a learned behavior. Pressing through the pain of life, as well as embracing its glory, has the power to teach us that all will be well. Sarahs most recent work demonstrates the truth that compassionate action is something that transforms lives. People who wonder about the cost of transformation owe it to themselves to share in Sarahs journey.

Paul Fromberg, Rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco

In a brilliant story perfectly capturing the heart of Divine Love, Sarah Thebarge gently proves we are never too far for rescue, never too broken for wholeness, and never too sick to be made well.

Reba Riley, author of Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome

Sarah Thebarge has penned a magnificent and moving book! It reminds us the question in life isnt, Why does God allow suffering to happen in the world? but rather, Why do we? A must-read!