Jennifer R. Durant, busy career woman, wife, and mom of two, made a
drastic Career 2.0 change. In the lexicon of ministry, God called her to
be an Episcopal priest, and Jennifer answered. Several years later, in
the final weeks of seminary, Durant's world changed dramatically again,
when the persistent weakness in one of her hands was diagnosed as ALS
(aka Lou Gehrig's disease).
In
Sparrow, completed with her husband, Matthew, Durant recounts
her battle and brings the reader with her on her spiritual journey
through her priesthood and ministry which, despite her illness,
continued to her death—with the aid of a speech box, she preached her
final sermon on the Sunday before her death.
Durant leads readers forward through the confusion of our
caffeine-fueled and perpetually exhausted world to discover, as she did,
a renewing sense of God-given purpose and sacred light which even the
darkest of circumstances cannot extinguish, a place where even in
silence, God is present, whispering through us.
An inspiration to any who suffer from a debilitating disease (or know
someone who does) and those who provide pastoral care to others. It is a
story of God's redemption and new life.
