Eric writes: "I have written this book in four parts. In Part One, I share insights into my own decade of pain. I do this to try and give you a sense of being there and of understanding the perspective from which I write. This is not an attempt to seek sympathy as your own story may be far worse than mine and I know that many go through even more difficult circumstances all the time. Rather, it is an attempt to draw back the curtain and let you see inside some of the experiences that have formed the rest of the book. It offers the inside track on what it feels like to come very close to death on more than one occasion. It faces many challenging questions like "Where is God’s love in our suffering?" with no slick or easy answers.

In Part Two and the shorter Part Three, I share hard-won insight into how we can survive storms in the Christian life without becoming bitter, and how we can go through suffering and yet glorify God in our trials. In Part Two, I deal with things that can hinder and things that can help. Then, in Part Three, after taking a brief look at Job, I concentrate on Pauls storm in Acts 27, examining how the storms of our lives, whatever they may be, can actually serve to make us more effective followers of Jesus Christ. What are your storms? Opposition, sickness, pain, personal failure? I hope you will find comfort, strength and encouragement in your personal struggles as you read.

Part Four is a challenge to the church to face up to the needs of suffering people in their congregations, especially those for whom healing is delayed or even denied. Church should be a help, not a hindrance in times of pain. This section should be of special interest to sufferers and their carers, but also, I hope, to my colleagues in ministry and Christian leadership."