Published by Harvest House Publishers on February 24, 2026
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life
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We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Holds,
but We Know the One Who Holds TomorrowWhile grief is a universal experience, there are no clear rules or roadmaps for getting to the other side. And yet God is on this journey with us, holding us up and leading us to restoration.
Amy Kulbok is a professional trauma therapist and a Christian whose own life was upended by heartbreaking tragedy. Sharing both therapeutic insights and hard-won wisdom, In the Valley of the Shadow combines personal, biblical, and evidence-based perspectives to explore the complexities of grief, faith, and suffering.
For anyone who has been touched by suffering, Amy demystifies the grief process while revealing foundational truths about identity, relationships, internal processes, and relational patterns. You’ll find uplifting guidance as you grapple with difficult topics, including trusting God’s sovereignty, practicing forgiveness, and letting go of regrets.
When wrestling with grief, it’s as if everything and nothing make sense at the same time. But where light and shadow converge, God is there. Amy helps you honor each step of the mysterious journey of grief while seeking God amid it all.
This gentle, insightful book offers wisdom for navigating grief from a Christian perspective. Amy C.L. Kulbok is a trauma therapist, so she draws on both biblical wisdom and her clinical knowledge throughout this book, showing how they fit together. She also shares personal reflections from her own experiences surviving an immense personal tragedy. Her parents, niece, and nephew were murdered in a shooting, and readers who have also experienced trauma from gun violence should go into this book knowing that it may be triggering.
Kulbok reflects on practical aspects of life after devastating loss, as well as the spiritual questions that immense suffering raises for Christians. She writes about different aspects of the grief experience, such as the initial period of shock, the importance of supportive relationships, coping with personal regrets, and finding a path towards forgiveness. She writes in a compassionate, understanding voice, and offers helpful information and perspectives throughout. This book will be especially beneficial for Christians who have struggled with spiritual bypassing, and who need permission to slow down and truly experience their grief.
How helpful someone finds this book will vary based on their life situation and experiences. In the Valley of the Shadow will probably be most beneficial to people reeling from major tragedies and the loss of loved ones. In my case, I constantly felt tempted to minimize my problems as I read this, since my trauma from pastoral abuse is nothing in comparison to losing four family members to gun violence. I also found it difficult to read the chapter about help and support, since the author writes from the perspective of someone who experienced her whole community rallying around her.
I’m glad that the author experienced such an outpouring of care and support during her darkest moments, but I wish that she had included perspectives on how to cope with the absence of support or hurtful people who have compound a person’s wounds. In my case, a big part of my trauma has been losing my church family, so it was really hard for me to get through the chapter about leaning on your support system.
In the Valley of the Shadow: Grief, Faith, and the Transformative Work of Suffering offers deep insight and encouragement for people suffering under the weight of immense loss. People dealing with any type of suffering can benefit from the author’s wisdom, but readers who are likely to dismiss their pain in contrast to the author’s may be better off choosing a different resource. This book is ideal for people who have lost loved ones and experienced major tragedies, since their experience will align more with the author’s.