The Hope in Our Scars is at once searing, honest, and encouraging. Aimee Byrd pulls no punches when it comes to the failings of the church, both corporately and individually, showing how often it has wounded and marred the very people it should nurture, leaving them scarred. And yet in the midst of that searing honesty, there is radiant hope, for she always sees the church, and ourselves within it, as also and always the beloved bride of Christ, who has forever wedded his story to ours, and by whose wounds our wounds are healed. In an age when so many are turning away disillusioned or deconstructing their faith, The Hope in Our Scars offers a recovery of vision and confidence; a call to tell and retell our own stories as honestly as possible and so renew our intimacy with Christ and one another.

—MALCOLM GUITE, poet, priest, life fellow of Girton College Cambridge

This is a book for the bruised ones, for the smoldering wicks, for the disillusioned. With clarity and grace, Aimee Byrd shows that there can be beauty even in the midst of brokenness and that the true church of Christ is a place of healing, restoration, and hope. A beautiful testimony of compassion and resilience.

—KRISTIN KOBES DU MEZ, New York Times bestselling author of Jesus and John Wayne

Aimee’s newest book strains toward hope and beauty even as she honestly acknowledges the pain and perils of navigating today’s fraught ecclesial landscape. Once again, she offers compelling new thoughts, but it’s her vulnerability that draws me in and inspires me to keep my heart open and hopeful, not least because of the one whose scars paved the resurrection path.

—CHUCK DEGROAT, author of When Narcissism Comes to Church and professor of pastoral care and executive director of the Clinical Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary

What a gift this book is! The beauty of Aimee’s faith shines through the ugliness of her story—reminding us why the church is still worth fighting for and giving us the wisdom we need to keep fighting for it. You will want this book for your friends, family, and church. But most of all, you will want it for yourself.

—BETH ALLISON BARR, James Vardaman Professor of History at Baylor University

Aimee Byrd is an epic storyteller, and she tell us a story, her story, many people’s story. It’s a story of affliction, disappointment, despair, and shame—and how to grow closer to God out of it. Aimee testifies to how God is faithful even when the people who claim to speak for God are evidently not. Replete with scriptural reflections and her own personal experiences, Aimee shows readers that our spiritual and emotional scars are painful memories etched into our skin, but those scars can also be signs of healing and getting stronger.

—MICHAEL F. BIRD, deputy principal at Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia

Giving voice to the questions many hurting people are asking, Byrd ultimately directs our eyes to the answer, the one to whom the church belongs, Christ himself. As ...