His Face Like Mine: Finding God's Love in Our Wounds

Author Russell W. Joyce was born Nov. 17, 1988, with a rare craniofacial disorder called Goldenhar syndrome. Joyce describes his condition this way: “Put bluntly, the left side of my face and parts of my body were badly broken.” Joyce’s childhood was punctuated by countless visits to doctors, hospital stays, and surgeries, many of them painful and emotionally isolating.

Though Joyce’s parents knew that “God gave them this child with a different face for a reason,” they continued to pray the prayer they spoke at his birth, pleading for God to make their son whole. In time, God assured them that he had already healed their son through the work of Christ on the cross.

Joyce asserts that all people have a longing for God to make them whole. He explains: “As a pastor and, more importantly, a follower of Jesus, I’ve learned that Jesus came to earth for one reason: our wholeness. God is not scared away by our wounded souls. In fact, he’s acquainted with them even more intimately than we dare fathom. And the wholeness and freedom we’re so desperate for are right in front of us if we have the courage to look.”

Joyce’s intent in writing this emotionally gripping exploration of human woundedness, no matter the cause, isn’t a memoir, though he shares many anecdotes from his life. He writes, “To be clear, this is not a book about my experience having a broken face. It’s about how God met me in my soul’s wounds found within the stories of my face. It’s about how God longs to meet you inside your soul’s wounds too.”

As Joyce read and explored the Bible, he realized that the lives of biblical characters were filled with wounds, either inflicted on themselves or by others. Joyce proclaims the wonderful, mysterious truth that God didn’t just put up with these characters’ wounds, but rather, “he used their wounds especially to work out his plans. The wounds weren’t baggage; no, they were the very instrument God used to save his world.”

His Face Like Mine is an outstanding resource for pastors, lay leaders, and anyone, whether a Christ-follower or not, who recognizes their own woundedness and desires to take steps to discover the wholeness Jesus longs to bring to the world. The book concludes with questions for reflection or discussion, making it suitable for individual and group study. (IVP)