Endorsements for The Voices We Carry

"It's rare that I find an author who is capable of wielding psychological insight into accessible, beautiful, and engaging prose, but J. S. Park's work here thrilled me. This book is at once beautiful and heartbreaking, human and humorous, wise and worshipful."
—K.J. Ramsey, Author of This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers

In The Voices We Carry, J. S. Park identifies and explores the eight voices that shape so much of the way we move through the world, without our even knowing it. In identifying those voices and giving us examples from his own personal and professional life, examples that are often astonishingly honest, he becomes a sturdy guide and trusted friend in the journey. We may all carry these voices, but we don't need to carry them. The Voices We Carry bursts with compassion and wisdom. This book is a gift.
—Kerry Egan
Author of On Living

J. S. has written a personal narrative that gives a "voice" to the "voices" we all encounter—those internal dialogues we fight and embrace that cycle through messages of rejection and belonging. Through his experience as a chaplain and the vulnerability of his personal experiences growing up, J. S. weaves a message of hope that we have the power to identify, confront, and ultimately transform our personal dialogue when we choose to step into and embrace the authenticity of our unique voice.
—Deborah Gorton
Licensed clinical psychologist, author, Gary D. Chapman Chair of Marriage, Family Ministry, and Therapy at Moody Theological Seminary

The exposing honesty of triumph over human failure, especially in J. S. Park, is mind remedying. Reading J. S.'s heart and faith throughout The Voices We Carry gives courage to listen to, decipher, face, and positively redirect the voices that live inside our humanness, our minds, and our hearts. Helping us to become overcomers in order to help others to overcome is a beautiful and generous gift from God. The Voices We Carry challenges us to recognize we all are a part of God's gift, through the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding us, by the power of Jesus' love made complete in us.
—Belinda W. Womack
Internationally renowned gospel and jazz artist

We all carry darkness. And we all carry light. Learning to let our light illuminate our darkness and expose the most vulnerable, flawed, broken parts of ourselves frees us to become the unashamedly human, miraculously divine image-bearers we were created to be and, in the process, opens our hearts to the other vulnerable, flawed, broken humans we encounter every day. That is the healing message of The Voices We Carry. With practical steps interspersed with personal stories in the powerful voice of a hospital chaplain, The Voices We Carry is more than a self-help book or a memoir. It is a revelation of what it means to be human in an often inhumane world. It is an invitation to be fully and fiercely and authentically human despite, or even because of, our frailty and failings and to reach out to each other, again and again, in the face of the sometimes insurmountable grief of life and love and loss on this gorgeous old planet we share.
—L. R. Knost
Author of InHumanity: Letters from the Trenches and Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages

J. S. Park gives us all an incredible gift in The Voices We Carry: the chance to be known and seen by a chaplain, perhaps even long before we find ourselves at the end of our days. His writing is singular and unique: he is a poet, a theologian, and a guide to the inner worlds we expend momentous energy hiding from the rest of the world. I will be reading this book over and over again: it exposes and it heals, all at the same time pointing us toward the divine voice of love we are so desperately craving.
—D. L. Mayfield
Author of The Myth of the American Dream: Reflections on Affluence, Autonomy, Safety, and Power

J. S. Park has masterfully captured a God-honoring expression of giving voice to the unheard souls seeking hope in the midst of trauma, grief, and faith.
—Morris Hintzman
Developing Founder and Former President of Metropolitan Ministries, Tampa, FL