Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira - Grumble Hallelujah

Reading Grumble Hallelujah is like having coffee with a wise, warm, honest friend when youre having a horrible day. I felt both understood and challenged in just the right combinationlike Caryn has been there, like she can help me get to a better place.

Shauna Niequist , author of Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet

Grumble Hallelujah is an authentic book about what it means to thrive in the daily-ness of life. Through its pages youll be inspired to live with an expectant, open heart.

Mary DeMuth , author of Thin Places

I feel indebted to Caryn Rivadeneira. Her accessible wisdom and vulnerability make us all more brave.

Shayne Moore , author of Global Soccer Mom

Grumble Hallelujah is for those of us who sometimes wish we could trade in our lives like we might trade in an old, beat-up Chevy. It delivers the gentle, humorous, kick-in-the-pants reminder that the imperfect life weve been givenwith all its dents, smells, and rumblingsis exactly the one weve been praying for all along.

Eileen Button , columnist and author of The Waiting Place

Genuine humility, refreshing honesty, and a tremendous sense of humor: a trifecta of qualities as powerful as it is rare in the communion of the saints. Blessedly, Caryn possesses this magical combination and expresses it with a well-earned gravitas in Grumble Hallelujah .

Cathleen Falsani , author of Sin Boldly and Dude Abides

Caryn is honest and open about the challenges of life, and rather than try to fix it up all shiny and happy, she just sits with you on the kitchen floor and admits that life is tough. Her story has made all the difference to me as I grumble along!

Tracey Bianchi , author of Green Mama

Caryn has given us an honest, no guilt guide to letting go of fear and disappointment, to finding joy in the midst of struggles.

Keri Wyatt Kent , author of Breathe , Rest , and Deeper into the Word

Grumble Hallelujah will challenge you to love the life God has for you, not with trite clichs or easy answers, but from a woman who displays the grace and mercy of one who is desperately seeking to live like Jesus... even in the grumbling.

Jenni Catron , executive director, Cross Point Church, Nashville, www.crosspoint.tv

Grumble Hallelujah wont magically transform your life into a perfect one, but it will transform you , so that you more fully embrace and appreciate the entirety of who you are, imperfections and all.

Helen Lee , author of The Missional Mom

Caryn tugs at my heart in a way I didnt expect. She is fearlessly vulnerable, and pushes us to be too. She speaks the language of letting go, a language most women struggle to learn. If you want to change the way you live, learn a new hallelujah from Caryn.

Anita Lustrea , Midday Connection executive producer/cohost; author of What Women Tell Me

With many personal stories, lots of laughs and precision incision, Caryn will open your eyes and heart to the reality and the results of your grumbling. Then she leads into practical and realistic responses that will change your attitude, reactionseven your life. Grumble hallelujah !

Judy Douglass , director of womens resources, Campus Crusade for Christ

Caryn has written a stellar book. And not just because its honest and funny and dead-on about the disappointments and triumphs of life. Its fantastic because its what I wish someone would whisper to me on those days when I just want to be someone else for a while.

Carla Barnhill , author of The Myth of the Perfect Mother ; cocreator, The Mommy Revolution

From the beginning of Grumble Hallelujah , Caryn Rivadeneira reminds usconvinces us eventhat God can be found in fear; in dark and gunky corners; and in our real, exposed lives. I love this deeply joyful, deeply honest book.

Jennifer Grant , journalist; author of Love You More

Many of us experience heartbreaking rough patches on lifes road. Grumble Hallelujah arrives with comfort, humor, and grace for lifes unwelcome terrain.

Melinda Schmidt , Midday Connection cohost; coeditor, Tending the Soul

In this engaging, laugh-out-loud grumble-logue, Caryn walks us through her own sewer-water-in-the-basement moments. Shes written a realistic, hopeful owners manual for anyone wanting Jesus abundant life when God holds back the goodies.

Jonalyn Grace Fincher , vice president and speaker, Soulation; author of Ruby Slippers

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Visit the authors website at www.carynrivadeneira.com.

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Grumble Hallelujah: Learning to Love Your Life Even When It Lets You Down

Copyright 2011 by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira. All rights reserved.

Cover photo copyright Rubberball/iStockphoto. All rights reserved.

Back cover texture copyright Kim Klassen. All rights reserved.

Author photo taken by Stephen Vosloo. Copyright 2011 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Designed by Beth Sparkman

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard St., #200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, www.alivecommunications.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM (Some quotations may be from the NIV copyright 1984.) Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible , King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked The Message are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible , English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rivadeneira, Caryn Dahlstrand.

Grumble hallelujah : learning to love your life even when it lets you down / Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4143-3801-9 (sc)

1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. Attitude (Psychology)Religious aspectsChristianity. 3. Optimism. I. Title.

BV4527.R57 2011

248.8'43dc22 2011015993

To Rafi

Thanks for sharing this life.

And putting up with my grumbling.

I love you.

Introduction

Confession: If youd have told me a few years back, as I lay on the kitchen floor, a sobbing, weepy mess, that Id be peddling advice on how to love the life youre living, Id have laughed in your face. Or, to be more honest, Id have thrown a shoe at it. Which is what I nearly did to my husband, Rafi, when he stumbled upon me (quite literally) on the floor that day.

Instead, when Rafi knelt down and asked, Caryn, whats wrong? I hissed back, I hate my life.

As soon as those words swung back around to my own ears, I realized I didnt quite mean them; however, they were the best I could come up with to describe the way I felt after three years of financial devastation and family stress; three years of disappointment, hurt, loss, anger, and confusion; and three years of feeling altogether forgotten by God. Nothing in my life was as it was supposed to beand I hated that.