When you hit rock bottom, it’s not rainbows and butterflies that you want—it is the words to express your deepest emotions without being judged for them. On this spiritual memoir, writer Maureen O’Brien finds her words in the psalms. As a cancer survivor and heartbroken divorcee, O’Brien made a seemingly simple commitment to praying one psalm a day, regardless of how uninspired she felt. And as she returned to the ancient poems each day, she came upon something surprising: whilst the psalms did give her comfort, solace, and hope, they also gave her permission to rage, cry, and grieve. And what she found Used to be that her most honest emotions pulled her nearer to God, not further away. This, O’Brien writes, is the gift of the psalms. At once relatable and inspiring, What Used to be Lost stands like a lighthouse on a stormy night, offering the reader a clear path to be led home.
