Gifts from Friends We Never Wanted - by Virginia Herbers (Paperback)

About the Book

"Following the same pattern as her first book, Gifts from Friends We've Yet to Meet, Herbers chooses a gospel character to accompany us as we engage uninvited "friends," weaving together the stories of Jesus's contemporaries, his response to their foibles, and stories from her own experiences"--

Book Synopsis

Discover how unlikely friends can provide us with gifts beyond measure.

Unwelcome guests are not generally greeted with gratitude but occasionally they become unexpected friends bearing gifts we never would have asked for. In Gifts from Friends We Never Wanted, Virginia Herbers introduces a sampling of these types of surprising guests in our lives--failure, disappointment, worry--and the gifts they offer us when they come visiting.

Following the same pattern as her first book, Gifts from Friends We've Yet to Meet, Herbers chooses a gospel character to accompany us as we engage these uninvited "friends." Weaving together the stories of Jesus's contemporaries, his response to their foibles, and stories from her own experiences, Herbers invites us to join her on a journey of discovery, vulnerability, honesty--and hospitality. She asks if we dare to befriend the least appealing truths of ourselves to surrender them to a God who can enlighten even the greatest darkness? If we dare, then we will have truly understood the value of these gifts from friends we never wanted.

Review Quotes

"In Gifts from Friends We Never Wanted, Virginia Herbers invites us to reimagine whom we might think of as a friend (grief, betrayal, doubt, disappointment) and marvel at the gifts they offer (wonder, reverence, choice, perspective). Reflective, insightful, and sparkling with humor and warmth, the book opens us to moments in the gospels and Herbers' own life when a gift was revealed through loss, lack, or even a grave mistake. In each of the ten stories, Herbers provides a wealth of historical context and close reading to defamiliarize the characters we think we know well, showing us the how the messy, confusing, and worrisome can actually lead to consolation. This book is a warm conversation with a wise friend who helps us notice in the gospels, our own lives, and everyday challenges, how much the gifts of love and grace abound."
Melody S. Gee, author of We Carry Smoke and Paper: Essays on the Grief and Hope of Conversion

-- (5/31/2024 12:00:00 AM)

"This small book is a treasure for readers tossed about by contemporary waves of so-cial and personal distress. They know, with Virginia Herbers, that no one seeks out these circumstances. They will be blessed by Her-bers' confident and generous gift of sharing her experience of God's enduring presence."
Benedictines

-- (5/1/2025 12:00:00 AM)

"Gifts from Friends We Never Wanted is an opportunity to embrace the gift of our own imperfections."
The Bible Today-- (1/1/2025 12:00:00 AM)

"In a world that continues to encourage us to be perfect, Virginia writes about the graces received through the times and seasons that we may want to ignore. Instead of wishing our struggles away, she invites us, through our heroes of Scripture, to consider how we are 'blessed in the mess' of our daily lives. Read this with hope: There is joy waiting in the wings!"
Danielle Harrison, retreat director and principal, Mission Faith Equity Consulting
-- (6/17/2024 12:00:00 AM)

"Virginia Herbers' latest work is the fruit of sustained reflection on ten different figures in the Scriptures. Her readers will also come away with a new understanding of themselves, thanks to her perceptive observations."
Very Rev. Seán Charles Martin, STD, President Emeritus, Aquinas Institute of Theology
-- (6/10/2024 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Virginia Herbers is a retreat director, lecturer, and spiritual director who uses story and theology to shed contemporary light on traditional scriptural texts. Virginia has been an educator in the United States and Taiwan, a blogger for the USCCB, a regular columnist for Global Sisters Report, and a frequent presenter at retreat centers and parishes across the country. Her undergraduate degrees are in theology and mathematics, and she has an MA in pastoral studies from Aquinas Institute. She is the author of Gifts from Friends We've Yet to Meet, published by Liturgical Press. She currently serves as the director of mission formation at Saint Louis University.