More Beautiful Than Before: How Suffering Transforms Us

In the spirit of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Steve Leder examines how we transform through pain and come out stronger, kinder and more at peace

'This powerful book... is filled not with theory, but with time-tested wisdom that can only come from years of experience helping people.... Don't just read it, buy a copy for a friend.' - Pastor Rick Warren, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Every one of us sooner or later walks through hell. The hell of being hurt. The hell of hurting another. The hell of cancer, the hell of divorce, the hell of chronic pain. The hell of a shovelful of earth upon the casket of someone we deeply loved. The point is not to come out of hell empty-handed. There is real and profound power in the pain we endure if we transform our suffering into a more authentic, meaningful life.

As the Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, Steve Leder witnesses a lot of pain- 'It's my phone that rings when people's bodies or lives fall apart.' In this deeply inspiring book, written in the spirit of such classics as When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Leder guides us through pain's stages of surviving, healing and finally growing.

Drawing on his experience as a spiritual leader, the wisdom of ancient traditions, modern science and stories from his own life, he shows us that when we must endure, we can, and that there is a path for each of us that leads from pain to wisdom. There is real and profound power in the pain we endure if we transform our suffering into a more authentic life.

'The lessons Leder teaches are- acknowledge what is occurring, confront it honestly and own it, and then move on. Survive, heal, grow. And if you can do that, Leder says, you will emerge from the experience transformed.' - Forbes