Through the Storms

It is true that Through the Storms is a personal journey, yet there are deep lessons here that can affect the lives of every one of us.

I’ve known Eric for more than forty years and marvelled at his faith and determination not to let his condition get the better of him. He is a living tribute to the grace and mercy of God. If your situation looks hopeless, you’re caring for someone in great need or you fear for your own future health, this book will be an incredible inspiration and comfort to you.

Eric Gaudion's work is heart-rending and heart-mending. It brings us face to face with a man who has simultaneously endured terrible suffering and learned how to stand amid the pain and the mystery. I have known Eric for some years and his words are not simply ink on paper; each one is carefully chosen and reflects the character of the man. He does not carry the scars of a victim, but of a victor. He has learned what it is to believe God when all is dark and uncertain, to walk step by step and live moment by moment in grace, trust and humility. Here is a book that teaches us that we do not need to have it all together to be held by God. That we can stand amid the pain and declare, with Job, that our Redeemer lives and mends our souls in a way that nothing else can. Eric’s work helps me hold on to both truths.

My wife Brenda endured a forty-year battle with multiple sclerosis, until her passing in 2017. In the midst of it, from the get-go of meeting Eric and Diane many years ago, there was a special bond between us – the fellowship of suffering. The long nights, the murky days, the hopes raised for healing and then shattered: all the elements are here, told with candour, biblical faith and theological wisdom. Where do you go when you’ve nowhere to go? “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68)). This book will help anyone grappling with the age-old problem of suffering to find that answer too. Highly recommended.

Invited by Eric to become his Assistant at City Temple, Cardiff, in 1996, near the start of Eric’s battle with ill health, I have been constantly amazed at Eric and Diane’s courage, faith and belief in the goodness and faithfulness of God. This book is the story of an incredible and often harrowing journey, but also pauses to reflect on the bigger questions of suffering and pain in the plan of God. This is not a book based on the theory of suffering; this is a book by a man who has endured the darkest times but remained rooted in God. I commend it to you.

Few people desire to show their scars to the world, especially those that come along with pain, humiliation and vulnerability. Even then, few are able to articulate effectively the experiences that brought about those scars. Eric is one of the few who can. In a world crying out for authenticity he takes us on his life’s journey, along the way equipping us all to understand better the pain, frustrations and unanswered questions of those who suffer.

I cannot commend this book highly enough. Not only is it honest about the profound challenges faced personally by the author, but readers will also find both wonderful encouragement and practical help.

The vulnerable, faith-filled author has an integrity and insight after the storms in his own life of more than two decades of dealing courageously with severe pain, extensive medical interventions and the challenge of deep questions about his own discipleship and the God he worships. Eric is uniquely positioned to help, inspire and guide others through their own storms.

As a pastoral visitor to Eric during eight of his twenty-two years of serious and debilitating illness, invariably I was the one left feeling blessed and encouraged by the encounters. The story and the insights from Scripture in this book will give understanding, perspective and hope to anyone suffering long-term physical or mental illness.

If ever there was a man to help those in chronic pain, it is Eric. He’s been there, lived with it for more than twenty years and now has been mercifully released.

It’s been my pleasure to have known Eric Gaudion for more than 20 years, and I have personally witnessed him walk through some of the most challenging pain and disappointment imaginable. He has always displayed profound wisdom, grace and empathy towards those experiencing the storms of life.

This book does not offer any easy answers but gives hope, encouragement and the opportunity to believe in the possibility of new beginnings. It is undoubtedly a very helpful contemporary addition to our understanding of a theology of suffering, which is so necessary if we are to develop an effective theology of healing and wholeness.

Eric has lived through the “dark night of the soul”; he knows what life is truly like when heaven is silent and what it is to face bitter disappointment day after day, year after year. But he knows, too, that in the midst of intense suffering, if we wait patiently, albeit painfully, there is a flicker of light that can bring us home. This book about Eric’s story and his reflections are like Kierkegaard’s quote that “life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards”. And Eric’s is an important story that the Western Church needs to hear as we seek to wait patiently at times in darkness and pain.