Promised by Heaven

September 15, 2015

Hensley, a chiropractic doctor based in Ireland, offers an account of her healing vocation and ability to communicate with the dead and receive glimpses of the future, notably by looking at her own foibles and recurring opportunities in her personal circumstances to correct the past and clarify her decisions. The author's story largely unfolds in Ireland, where she develops her chiropractic and psychic skills, while her Baptist origins are in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. In spite of her conventional upbringing, Hensley grapples with an ability to perceive auras and visits from the deceased, along with striving to raise two daughters, each with similarly supernatural gifts. She weaves a belief in reincarnation with an exploration of physical illness, painful relationships, and her own loss through divorce and encounters with death. All, says the author, are examples of the individual journey to remember the learning and restorative purpose of our time on earth. VERDICT For readers interested in the link between human relationships, illness, the mind-body continuum, death, clairvoyance, and the afterlife, this is an often breezy but thoughtful personal account by an author who isn't shy about her flaws and struggles.--Bernadette McGrath, Vancouver P.L.

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