What do you think?
Rate this book
LifeLine Mini-books
Help! I'm So Lonely
A small book helping people who are experiencing loneliness, as well as those who care for them
- GenresCounselling
64 pages, Paperback
First published December 30, 2016
1 person is currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Howard
6 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Deborah Howard and her husband, Theron, live outside Little Rock, Arkansas. Deborah's writing and speaking ministry serves to comfort the hurting, to instruct, and to write for Him. As a former hospice nurse, her experience lends itself to this ministry. Her fiction work is designed to entertain while demonstrating that living according to biblical principles is indeed possible.
Deborah Howard and her husband, Theron, live outside Little Rock, Arkansas. Deborah's writing and speaking ministry serves to comfort the hurting, to instruct, and to write for Him. As a former hospice nurse, her experience lends itself to this ministry. Her fiction work is designed to entertain while demonstrating that living according to biblical principles is indeed possible.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 9, 2022
Webster's Dictionary gives a definition of the word "primer" as being: 1) a small book for teaching children to read; 2) a small introductory book on a subject; or 3) a short informative piece of writing. This definition in #'s 1 and 2 above fits nicely with most, if not all of, the little booklets that we have found to be helpful in our counseling ministry. Deborah Howard's "Help! I'm So Lonely," is one of those booklets. It truly is a primer on the topic of loneliness, so it leaves a lot, yet to be addressed within the realm of this one issue.
Loneliness! Who hasn't had some experience with this? I've talked to many people over the years who would say that being lonely is something they have dealt with at some juncture in their life. Usually, when one thinks of the lonely person, they are inclined to think of someone who has no friends, no social life, one who possibly is a "reject of society." I'm sure that loneliness is a struggle for those individuals. But those aren't the only ones. In this booklet, Howard shares the results of a survey she took of a large populace of widows/widowers. The results provided great fodder for Howard to pen her booklet. The survey results provide an open window into the heart of people who have lost loved ones and the loneliness that follows. This is very helpful. But Howard doesn't just expose the reality of loneliness that widows/widowers experience, she attempts to move beyond the testimonials to provide a biblical understanding of loneliness and the answer to loneliness. The bulk of her counsel on how to deal with loneliness would be found to be simple, wise, common sense counsel that can be very helpful for the person battling loneliness.
The weaknesses of the booklet were few, but were perhaps significant enough to warrant a mention here: 1) One of the key weaknesses of the booklet seemed to be that Howard focuses in on the loneliness of people who have lost a spouse. There is certainly a need to address this, but truth be told, married people with kids get lonely. In fact, I know people who have an abundance of friends and still find themself at various times, battling a loneliness that seems odd, but is there nonetheless. A few years ago, I found myself in the throes of this odd thing called, "loneliness." It was odd because my life is filled with people. My wife and I have a great relationship. My kids were still living close by. My facebook friends' list was huge, and yet, in the midst of this, there was this overwhelming feeling of being alone. Daily. For weeks on end. It was odd. In that time period I began to ask others about loneliness and I found that even people who have tons of friends and a great social life, still experience loneliness. Howard seems to fail to address this common to man issue, focusing more so on the widows/widowers. 2) A second weakness seemed to be related to the biblical illustrations she used to show that people in Scripture battled loneliness. With most of the examples given, it never says in the pages of holy writ that the person was lonely. The author has to read loneliness into the passage. In most of those examples, it is probably safe to assume that they were lonely, but no one knows. Some of Howard's examples seemed to be a stretch that takes away from the power of the message.
It's not that I disliked the booklet. I think it is a helpful primer for one who wants to begin to think about loneliness and how to view this all too common struggle. Howard mentions a book by Elisabeth Elliott--a book about loneliness. This book is excellent and one that I believe that would be more helpful than Help! I'm So Lonely.
Loneliness! Who hasn't had some experience with this? I've talked to many people over the years who would say that being lonely is something they have dealt with at some juncture in their life. Usually, when one thinks of the lonely person, they are inclined to think of someone who has no friends, no social life, one who possibly is a "reject of society." I'm sure that loneliness is a struggle for those individuals. But those aren't the only ones. In this booklet, Howard shares the results of a survey she took of a large populace of widows/widowers. The results provided great fodder for Howard to pen her booklet. The survey results provide an open window into the heart of people who have lost loved ones and the loneliness that follows. This is very helpful. But Howard doesn't just expose the reality of loneliness that widows/widowers experience, she attempts to move beyond the testimonials to provide a biblical understanding of loneliness and the answer to loneliness. The bulk of her counsel on how to deal with loneliness would be found to be simple, wise, common sense counsel that can be very helpful for the person battling loneliness.
The weaknesses of the booklet were few, but were perhaps significant enough to warrant a mention here: 1) One of the key weaknesses of the booklet seemed to be that Howard focuses in on the loneliness of people who have lost a spouse. There is certainly a need to address this, but truth be told, married people with kids get lonely. In fact, I know people who have an abundance of friends and still find themself at various times, battling a loneliness that seems odd, but is there nonetheless. A few years ago, I found myself in the throes of this odd thing called, "loneliness." It was odd because my life is filled with people. My wife and I have a great relationship. My kids were still living close by. My facebook friends' list was huge, and yet, in the midst of this, there was this overwhelming feeling of being alone. Daily. For weeks on end. It was odd. In that time period I began to ask others about loneliness and I found that even people who have tons of friends and a great social life, still experience loneliness. Howard seems to fail to address this common to man issue, focusing more so on the widows/widowers. 2) A second weakness seemed to be related to the biblical illustrations she used to show that people in Scripture battled loneliness. With most of the examples given, it never says in the pages of holy writ that the person was lonely. The author has to read loneliness into the passage. In most of those examples, it is probably safe to assume that they were lonely, but no one knows. Some of Howard's examples seemed to be a stretch that takes away from the power of the message.
It's not that I disliked the booklet. I think it is a helpful primer for one who wants to begin to think about loneliness and how to view this all too common struggle. Howard mentions a book by Elisabeth Elliott--a book about loneliness. This book is excellent and one that I believe that would be more helpful than Help! I'm So Lonely.
Displaying 1 of 1 review