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Pastor, Leadership Coach, and Podcast Host Christopher Cook Shares His Own Powerful Journey from Trauma to Wholeness, Helping Readers Transform Their Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health from the Inside Out

Both accessible and practical, Healing What You Can’t Erase teaches readers how transformation from the inside out beats willpower and self-help when it comes to healing and moving forward after crisis, loss, and disappointment.
 
We are in a worldwide mental health crisis, and yet the modern self-help industry continues to respond with feel-good promises it cannot deliver. As a result, many are stuck in regret and despair.
 
In Healing What You Can’t Erase: Transform Your Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health from the Inside Out (WaterBrook; on sale 3/19/24), pastor, leadership coach, and podcast host Christopher Cook leverages his personal story of adversity, loss, and healing to teach readers how to forge a path to wholeness from the inside out. Put simply, while the pain-filled memories from our past can’t be erased, we can experience mental, emotional, and spiritual healing that lasts.

Through integrated research from the eternal truths of Scripture combined with the principles of neuroscience and psychology, Healing What You Can’t Erase establishes the case that true life transformation will never occur in and of ourselves, whether by desire, determination, or willpower-driven self-help tactics.
 
“The aim of this book is to steer our priorities toward transformation, not simply recovery, because transformation and restoration are values of the kingdom,” Cook writes.
 
In addition to transparently sharing his own story of trauma to transformation, he includes helpful instruction, action steps, and guided questions to help readers discover:

• why transformation beats willpower and self-help
• how to recognize and heal what pop psychology and the self-help industry fail to treat: a broken spirit
• well-researched, biblically grounded strategies to revitalize their mental and emotional well-being
• how inside-out integrated transformation will revitalize their spirit, soul, and body

In Healing What You Can’t Erase, Cook also presents a fresh take on shame, specifically how the insidious nature shame infects and affects us spirit, soul, and body, thus impeding our ability to move forward in life; why surrender (not striving) is the first step to healing a broken spirit; the necessary role of grieving our losses; why the strength of our minds to steer our lives must not be underestimated; and much more.
 
Whether a reader is wrestling with the loss of a marriage, a fractured friendship, a betrayal at work, chronic stress, or a long-term illness, there is hope. No matter their pain or traumatic experiences, Healing What You Can’t Erase shows how the Holy Spirit can heal and restore them to the life God created them for.
 
Christopher Cook is available to discuss topics such as:
·       Why self-help methods don’t bring healing from trauma and pain; why performing our way to wholeness (willpower) doesn’t work.
·       The linchpin to receiving healing for the experiences that cannot be erased from our personal histories.
·       The importance of heart transformation over information in pursuing systemic life change.
·       The four plot elements of shame and how shame hijacks our ability to move forward in life, especially after loss.
·       How he discovered the often hidden but repeatable pattern that fortifies and exacerbates fear and anxiety in our lives, and how to escape the vicious cycle of toxic thinking.
·       The consequences we face when we live out of a wounded soul and broken spirits and ways to overcome the destructive effects of shame upon our neurophysiology.
·       His helpful four-step SEED (Secure, Examine, Expose, Decide) method for renewing the mind.
·       Lessons he learned about the grief process, embracing the mystery in loss, and why platitudes and pat answers cause more harm than good to those who are hurting.
·       How the pathway to our peace is forged not by the absence of conflict but by two key factors: a fixed focus and well-established trust in the character of the Lord.
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Christopher Cook is a pastor, leadership coach, and podcast host focused on transformation and wholeness, and the author of Healing What You Can’t Erase: Transform Your Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health from the Inside Out. With an aptitude for strategy and execution, he is able to unearth clarity out of complexity, which drives his mission to help individuals and organizations thrive in their true identity. His weekly podcast, Win Today with Christopher Cook, equips wellness-minded listeners to move beyond the limitations of self-help and instead toward an integrated life of wholeness from the inside out. Christopher resides in suburban Detroit, Michigan. Connect with him online at wintoday.tv and on social media @WINTODAYChris.

Notable Quotes from Christopher Cook in Healing What You Can’t Erase
“Nothing is more important than maintaining your inner life.”

“If we’re depending on willpower to change not only our situations but also us from the inside out—particularly when we’ve lived in an elevated state of stress and survival for any length of time—we’re building a house of cards. It’s designed to fail from the get-go.”

“Heart transformation is the difference maker, and the lack thereof is the deal-breaker for every situation we face.”
 
“Freedom and healing come not the person we are pretending to be but the person we are today.”
 
“Because of unexposed and unhealed wounds, we unintentionally normalize mindsets and behaviors that are anything but normal.”
 
“Whatever has our affections has our focus and thus the motivation and direction for our lives, because whatever has the most influence over us has us.”
 
“Wisdom and truth are absent where isolation abounds, because where isolation abounds, deception thrives.”
 
“Truth not only empowers us but sets us free to be who He has called us to be, not by our own might but by the Holy Spirit’s power at work in our hearts.”
 
“Because of His steadfast love for us, the Father calls us out of hiding, out of our own ‘Lo-debar,’ out of our shame-filled false identities, even while we are yet lame and broken in spirit, to dine at the king’s table.”
 
“Healing what can never be erased isn’t about developing amnesia about your past. It’s about throwing off every weight that holds you down and living the overcoming life to which you were called by a careful loving Father.”
 

Praise for Healing What You Can’t Erase:
“The health of our hearts determines the course of our lives. Christopher not only explores that truth but also gives us a clear-cut path to find healing and redemption after crisis, loss, and disappointment.” 
—Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling author of The Circle Maker

“To reframe our pain, we’ll need to retrain our brains. In this insightful book, Christopher Cook combines personal stories with powerful truths to help you gain a fresh perspective toward life’s challenges, so that what was meant to harm you can help expedite your process of transformation.” 
—John Bevere, bestselling author, minister, and co-founder of Messenger International 
 
“Healing What You Can’t Erase” leads us on a heartfelt journey to and through profoundest grief and then one step further to the light beyond.” —Anna Lembke, MD, author of Dopamine Nation
 
“Chris has learned the necessity of transforming his deep pain into deeper perspective, power, and peace. He maps out the hope-filled path that led him to healing to help you get there as well. You may not be able to change your past, but you can certainly heal from it.”—Debra Fileta, MA, LPC, licensed counselor and bestselling author
 
“Christopher is a beautiful man with a deep heart for restoration in the lives of everyone he meets. I think you’ll find this book immensely kind, gentle, and effective.”—John Eldredge, bestselling author of Wild at Heart and Resilient
 
“Christopher Cook invites us all on a journey to the source of true healing. Although it requires walking through valleys, we may believe we are not strong enough to walk through, he helps us to see we are not walking alone through Jesus.”—Nona Jones, speaker and author of Killing Comparison
 
“Chris unfolds truths in this book that will set you on a path to healing and freedom only found in Jesus.”
—Dave and Ann Wilson, hosts of FamilyLife Today
 
“The potency of Christopher’s words will point you toward healing in your spirit, soul, and body. This journey of transformation isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.”—Daniel G. Amen, MD, psychiatrist and New York Times bestselling author

Contact Publicist

Brett Benson