Bev DeSalvo - Return to Joy: Finding Healing in the Arms of Your Savior

If youre struggling to rediscover your joy, read this book! Bev DeSalvo shares her own journey with poignant honesty, and she invites you to retrace your past in order to move into radiant hope. Bev gently guides the reader out from under the shadow of false shame and misplaced guilt and into to a place of embracing tears, practicing forgiveness, and dwelling in the place of Gods light and hope. Youll benefit greatly from the powerful Bible study that accompanies each chapter. Buy one copy of Return to Joy for yourself and ten more to share with a small group of women who long to be free of the past in order to live triumphantly in the shelter of Gods love.

CAROL KENT

Speaker and author of When I Lay My Isaac Down

A fervent follower of Christ, Bev DeSalvo takes you by the hand and guides you on a journey from brokenness to joy. With a passion to lead others to wholeness, Bev walks with you on the road of brokenness she herself has traveled. Steeped in Scripture and accompanied by meditative questions, this book will challenge you to lay aside the wounds of your past, embrace the healing and freedom found only in our Divine Nurturer, and return to a joy-filled journey. I pray that Return to Joy blesses you as much as it blessed me.

CYNTHIA HEALD

Author of the Becoming a Woman Bible studies

If you feel as though youll never be happy again, this book is for you! Allow Bev to tenderly take your hand and show you how to find the path back to joy. No matter what hurt or trauma youve experienced, joy can be yours!

BECKY HARLING

Speaker, John Maxwell Certified Coach, and author of The 30-Day Praise Challenge and Rewriting Your Emotional Script

Many who have suffered through trauma are on a healing journey. Yet God has more for you than healing He invites you to travel the broken road to intimacy. Bevs powerful story testifies that God can work through your greatest pain to bring you into an intimate relationship with Him, your Creator and Lord.

DR. JULI SLATTERY

Cofounder of Authentic Intimacy

Return to Joy is a journey of hope and healing. Bev DeSalvo shares honestly about the sexual abuse of her childhood. She then invites Jesus into the depth of her pain, and His healing love produces a deep passion for Him. All her wounds cry, Alleluia! In the midst of suffering comes a depth of worship that is contagious. I have ministered in conferences and prisons for many years and have been waiting for this book. It is a powerful gift to those suffering pain and seeking peace.

LINDA STROM

President and founder of Discipleship Unlimited and author of Karla Faye Tucker Set Free

Bev DeSalvo honestly shares her journey from childhood pain and abuse to the healing arms of Christ. Return to Joy is a story of courage and hope. This book will take you to the feet of Jesus, where you will receive a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness.

TERRY MEEUWSEN

Cohost of The 700 Club

Return to Joy is a helpful resource for Christians who have been wounded through childhood or adult trauma or loss, particularly if they wish to experience greater intimacy with God. De Salvo takes seriously the impact of such wounds and does not offer easy solutions. She does, however, offer concrete suggestions for a step-by-step process that can lead individuals into emotional and spiritual healing.

HEATHER DAVEDIUK GINGRICH

Professor of counseling at Denver Seminary

What a gift Bev has given us in Return to Joy. The unvarnished view into her deepest hurts, the wisdom gained through pain, the secret to unfettered joy. Read this book and join others in studying it together. It will enrich your life.

JENNIFER KENNEDY DEAN

Executive director of The Praying Life Foundation and author of Live a Praying Life and other books and Bible studies

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

For a free catalog go to www.NavPress.com.

Return to Joy: Finding Healing in the Arms of Your Savior

Copyright 2016 by Beverly Hough DeSalvo. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

The Bridge to Life Illustration 1969, 2006 The Navigators. Used by permission of The Navigators. All rights reserved.

NAVPRESS and the NAVPRESS logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. TYNDALE is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

Cover photograph copyright Meredith Winn Photography/Getty Images. All rights reserved.

The Team:

Don Pape, Publisher

Caitlyn Carlson, Acquiring Editor

Beth Sparkman, Designer

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMPC are taken from the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked MSG 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 NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked WEB are taken from the World English Bible.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: DeSalvo, Bev, author.

Title: Return to joy : finding healing in the arms of your Savior / Bev DeSalvo.

Description: Colorado Springs : NavPress, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016003096| ISBN 9781631465406 | ISBN 9781631465413 (e-pub) | ISBN 9781631465420 (kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: Pain Religious aspects Christianity. | Suffering Religious aspects Christianity. | Spiritual healing. | Healing Religious aspects Christianity. | Joy Religious aspects Christianity.