We are part of a complex Church community―full of people who think differently than we do, behave in ways we don’t always agree with, and have lived experiences we don’t share. To make things even more difficult, we also have to deal with the foibles of the people around us, our own weaknesses and sins, and the ever-present promise of suffering and sorrow in our own lives and the lives of the people we love. With all that threatens to push us further away from our brothers and sisters in and out of the Church, how can we love and support each other? How do we create meaning from our suffering? And how can we grow close to God when our own pain might lead us to wonder whether He really has the best plan in mind for us?

In Sacred Struggle: Seeking Christ on the Path of Most Resistance, author and scholar Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye explores her own personal experiences within her church community, her profession, and her battle with cancer to provide some answers about how we can learn to love and appreciate the diverse collection of experiences we’re surrounded by and subjected to. Through her faithful, compassionate lens and supported by the words of academics, scripture, and Latter-day prophets and apostles, Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye shares her personal testimony of the power of Christ to understand―and relieve―our suffering while inviting us to love and support those who might sometimes be the cause of it.