Book Review: Light Overcoming Darkness
Light Overcoming Darkness Author: Jason Summers Publisher: Eider Books Year: 2024 I’ve had the great privilege of personally having known Jason Summers for over twenty-five years. We first met when […]
Light Overcoming Darkness
Author: Jason Summers
Publisher: Eider Books
Year: 2024
I’ve had the great privilege of personally having known Jason Summers for over twenty-five years. We first met when we were both studying at the Presbyterian Theological Centre in Burwood, NSW (now called Christ College). Since that time, our paths have continued to cross intermittently in NSW and now in Tasmania where we both live.
Jason is one of those uniquely gifted people with an extraordinary amount of heart compassion and graciousness for those whom he serves. And as such, he has often taken up ministerial appointments which—in the providence of God—have required an enormous degree of pastoral wisdom and personal resilience.
But it’s not just in his preaching and pastoral ministry which Jason has exemplified these qualities, but also in his own walk with the LORD. He has endured many personal hardships, and his perseverance in following Christ is a testimony to Christ’s own faithfulness and commitment to him.
Jason has been uniquely prepared by God to write a book such as Light Overcoming Darkness. It is the tragic story of his mother’s horrific experience of medical abuse at Chelmsford Hospital at Pennant Hills, NSW in the 1960’s and 70’s. By the time the hospital was finally closed in 1979, twenty-four people had tragically lost their lives.
A Story of Good Coming Out of Evil
Light Overcoming Darkness, though, is ultimately a story about the Gospel. It’s a story of the amazing grace of Christ’s salvation and the hope of redemption, especially when people are in the pit of psychological despair. And as such, the book affirms two fundamental truths of Scripture.
The first is from Genesis 50:20 which says, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
This statement was made by Joseph after he had been re-united to his estranged brothers. Members of his own family who had sold their flesh and blood into slavery!
Joseph had to endure years of hardship, imprisonment, and abandonment. But the text of Scripture describes Joseph as always steadfastly looking to the LORD for hope. Joseph’s faith in God never wavered and he was ultimately vindicated in such a dramatic way that if it wasn’t recorded in Scripture, then it wouldn’t be believed (see Genesis 41).
The other passage of Scripture to which Light Overcoming Darkness points is Romans 8:28, “And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
Through the medical malpractice Jason’s mother Margaret experienced, she ultimately came to a saving faith in Christ. And Margaret also experienced a marvellous healing of body, soul and mind.
The Purpose Behind our Pain
Light Overcoming Darkness is a powerful reminder that our suffering never looks purposeful while we are going through it, but meaningless. What’s more, because this world is subject to frustration and decay, all suffering is painful. But what Jason’s book illustrates so powerfully is that we have a loving Father in heaven who is working all things together for the good of those who love Him, for those who have been called according to His purpose.
And in keeping with this precious truth, the horrific events involving Jason’s mother and father don’t result in tragedy, but triumph. The book testifies to the saving grace of God. It shows that the lives of believers are something of a beautiful ‘tapestry’ – a divine work of art in which all of our multifaceted experiences, like the different coloured individual threads in a cross stitch, are being woven together by the Master Weaver.
The problem is, from our limited or human perspective, it’s like we’re only seeing things from the underside of the work. For if you’ve ever seen a tapestry or something similar from the back, you’ll know that it looks like a confused mess. And while the shape is roughly there, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s not going to work out at all. But what we need to do is wait until it is finished, and then turn over the print.
Light Overcoming Darkness shows that there’s going to come a day when that is going to occur, when all of the painful and confusing events of our lives will be made clear, and where the purpose and plan of the Master Weaver will demonstrate the goal of having been transformed into the image and likeness of God’s only begotten Son (Rom. 5:1-3).
An Important Part of Australian Medical History
My hope and prayer is that not only will many people be impacted by the content of the book, but that some creative genius might also turn it into a TV series! It is an important part of Australia’s medical history, but also a rebuke to the hubris of so many medical professionals, even today.
But Life Overcoming Darkness is ultimately a story about hope. That even in the deepest, darkest valley we need not fear any evil because there is a shepherd who is there with us to comfort and to guide (Psalm 23). Christians have a Good Shepherd who not only cares and feeds us, but has willingly laid down His own life for the sheep (John 10:11).
As the many endorsements to the book acknowledge, Light Overcoming Darkness is a powerful testimony to God’s grace. Gary Millar, the Principal of the Presbyterian Theological College in Queensland, writes:
“I don’t run out of words very often, but now is one of those times. This is just about the most moving book of any kind I have ever read. The awfulness of the events is retold so sensitively, and yet cannot mask the darkness of one man’s inhumanity to countless vulnerable men and women. Even more remarkable, however, is the clear and gentle testimony to the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in the middle of the most unspeakable suffering. That’s what makes this an unforgettably hopeful book.”
Purchase a copy to read, and then three more copies to give away so that others can be blessed. At just over a hundred pages, this functions as a riveting evangelistic tract.
Light Overcoming Darkness has also been produced as an audio book. Having heard an extract at the recent launch, I’d highly commend it as a way of benefiting from the book. Jason reads with such heart-felt emotion that it makes the book come even more alive.
– Mark Powell
Light Overcoming Darkness can be purchased through the following retailers:
Printed Copy
Eider Books: https://eiderbooks.wordpress.com/
Authors Note: www.authorsnote.au
ebook
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CY3XVRC1
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/light-overcoming-darkness-jason-summers/1145059057?ean=2940186131571
Audio Book
Spotify (Spotify don’t allow you to link the webpage but it is up and running)
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/light-overcoming-darkness
Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/light-overcoming-darkness-jason-summers/1145059057
Chirp https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/light-overcoming-darkness-by-jason-summers
