Crossing the River Sorrow tells the story of one woman’s plunge from a sheltered childhood in the ’50’s into the world of medicine, and her personal search for answers to questions about suffering. A single moment at the bedside of a paralyzed girl begins her journey on the River Sorrow, which takes her on a life-long quest to come to terms with the problem of pain.
More than medical case stories or tales of overcoming, Crossing the River Sorrow is a narrative told from the perspective an ordinary wife, mother, and nurse, as she lives her way to peace in the face of some of life’s most troubling questions.
“From the first pages I immediately realized I was in the presence of a gifted writer. In Nurse Richards, you find a gentle yet courageous soul, an artistic master of words, intellectual and guileless with an endearing simplicity of heart. Follow her as she battles unseen enemies with refreshing candor while deftly drawing the reader into her struggles against the stark and dark realities of adversity. This work is the story of a soul coming to a profound understanding of Christ, the gospels and the cross—a place where all should journey. Read. You will be nursed into someone you need to become.”
—Dan’l C. Markham, Director of Partner Relations at Life Without Limbs
Author, with Nick Vujicic, of the Lost Mandate, A Christ Command Revealed
Janet’s gift is to walk through an ordinary life and have the insight to feel the rainbow of emotions that makes us all human. The stories in this book bring the reader to the understanding that “only love remains, only love we give away,” and that seeing this truth is the beginning of a new life.
—Sandy Gerry, RN
Crossing the River Sorrow is a memoir of nursing, motherhood and spirituality. Janet Richards has the uncommon talent of writing simply about what is most profound. With ruthless scrutiny, she examines her life’s journey towards compassion and wholeness. Her honesty is deeply compelling. I laughed and cried as the Candy Striper who hid in a closet rather than face her hospital chores morphed into the wise, caring woman who all of us would want at our bedside or dinner table.
—Keddy Ann Outlaw, blogger/book reviewer/librarian
Thank you Janet Richards for charting your nursing journey through its many stages: to learning how to deal with whatever comes along, to compassion, to the golden moment of sharing your patients’ pain, and to seeing God’s presence in that pain. With my six plus decades of being the patient, I rejoice to find a nurse who came to the same epiphany as I. God meets us in the River Sorrow and assures our safe crossing.
—Judy Squire, author of His majesty in Brokenness (2010)