This Homeward Ache

The Gospel Coalition 2024 Book Awards, First-time Author, Award of Distinction

That sudden yearning you feel when you see a sunset. That pang of longing you sense deep in your bones when you attend a funeral or even gaze at a poignant piece of art. Those experiences that sting you to attention in moments of beauty, peace, or sorrow—the ones you can sense are offering you a twinkling, piercing hint of heaven:

Are these meant to do more than point you to eternity?

What if they could enable you to live more fully on the way there?

Through personal reflections, evocative stories, and profound writing, author Amy Baik Lee offers This Homeward Ache, inviting you to remember the times you've been deeply moved by a glimpse, a spark, of something you know is beyond the visible present—moments that other cultures and times have called Sehnsucht, saudade, hiraeth, or galmang. In each spellbinding chapter, Amy traces her own brushes with this longing, unfolding her discovery that it is designed to enrich and alter every area of our lives: our valleys of pain, our relationships with other people, and ultimately our reception of the love of God.

If you’ve ever wondered how to keep going in this world while holding on to the hope of the world to come, This Homeward Ache offers you courage, companionship, and a stirring sense of the scope of our journey home to Christ.

1. Opening Credits
2. Dedication
3. Introduction
4. Part 1: Homeward Longing
5. Chapter 1: The Meadow
6. Chapter 2: A Far-off Country
7. Chapter 3: A Yearning with a Destination
8. Chapter 4: Pierced by Peace
9. Chapter 5: Return to the Meadow
10. Part 2: Living Homeward
11. Chapter 6: As an Exile
12. Chapter 7: Through the Window of the Imagination
13. Chapter 8: In the Company of Other Pilgrims
14. Chapter 9: With Temporary Homes
15. Chapter 10: Through Pain
16. Chapter 11: As a Writer
17. Chapter 12: While Fighting the Good Fight
18. Chapter 13: Between East and West
19. Chapter 14: On Beauty in Creation
20. Chapter 15: At the Ends of the Imagination
21. Chapter 16: While Hemmed In
22. Chapter 17: Along Winding Paths
23. Chapter 18: With Bluets
24. Epilogue
25. Closing Credits