"O God, who weeps in the truth and pain of separation and loss, may You find my tears equally holy, and so lift me into Your heart. Amen," prays theologian, poet, and former pastoral psychotherapist and Episcopal priest Wayne Ewing. In this heartfelt and inspiring devotional work, he explores the spiritual challenges he experienced as a caregiver for his beloved wife Ann, a feminist therapist who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at age 55. Using passages from Scripture and a series of cogent prayers, Ewing demonstrates how "faith grows in the besieged environment of caregiving."

Again and again, the author identifies with the disciple Thomas who swung back and forth between faith and doubt. The prayers and support of a circle of friends provide "an infusion of spiritual energy" into his life. When he feels in his bones the evil impact of Ann's debilitating disease — "the invasion of her being had become a vast larceny of personality" — he identifies with the anger and the loneliness of the Biblical psalmist.

Ewing's meditations provide keen insight into the power of prayer, the purgative value of sorrow and loss, and caretaking as "the finger of God." He shows how the ample resources of Christian faith can be marshaled in times of great crisis to provide meaning, healing, and wholeness.