Hands up those who've got stress sorted! If you haven't got your hand up, there is probably something in this excellent little book for you. Aided by some delightfully humorous personal illustrations, Ruth Fowke provides an opportunity for all of us to take a little time out to examine how we allow stress to build up in our lives and to see whether something can be done about it.

Most of us recognise that in addition to individual burn out, stress is also damaging to relationships. The author helps us to see how factors such as different personality type, poor communication, delay in decision making and 'baggage from the past' can be recognised and better handled.

The book is easily readable and parts of it can be appreciated at a level of straightforward common sense or basic psychological insight. However, all the writing is under-girded with biblical truth and recognises the fundamental importance of our ongoing relationship with Christ. Coping with change is often a struggle, but 'if the shifting sands of change reveal that our foundation is also insubstantial', we may recognise an opportunity to do some fundamental repair work to our spiritual life.

Whether we consider ourselves to be orthodox Christians or not, the book unpacks how a false half-image of God can lodge unrecognised within us and do untold damage. Many doctors find themselves driven by work and lose any sense of identity outside the workplace. However, in the Bible, work and leisure are two sides of the same coin so one without the other is meaningless. Ruth Fowke encourages us to beware of reducing life to the merely utilitarian but instead to rediscover the astonishing truth of 1 Timothy 6:17: 'God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.'

Reviewed by:
Kevin Vaughan
General Practitioner in Birmingham