The Most Beautiful Disaster: How God Makes Miracles out of Our Mistakes

In this debut, Carpenter (Redemption Church, Greenville, SC) reminds readers that success does not guarantee happiness or a life free from the consequences of one’s choices. Redemption Church, which Carpenter founded with her husband Ron, has campuses in California and North Carolina, with thousands of congregants. Carpenter discusses her commitment to Christ, her history of childhood trauma, and being raped as a teenager; she writes that these circumstances, combined with the pressure she felt to appear perfect, led her to repress her emotional needs during her marriage until, she says, she felt she snapped like a rubber band. She recounts how she began rebelling in ways great and small, until an extramarital affair broke her marriage, and her husband kicked her out of the house, out of the church, and out of her family’s life. The book recounts Carpenter’s journey to understanding herself and her actions and to reconciling with her husband, family, and church through her reliance on biblical principles. Each chapter ends with sections called “Think about This” and “Scripture To Meditate On.”