Hope

Long before achieving high levels of personal success as a social worker, therapist, and spiritual director, Marshall Jung suffered from many of the same doubts, insecurities, and traumas borne by those he has since helped to heal. By his own admission, he has both sinned and been sinned against. Yet down the long decades of his career — despite scars of a childhood in which he felt neglected and unloved, a marriage fraught with turmoil (most of his own making), and a deep and long-lived crisis of faith — he has discovered real hope. Dr. Jung uses his own story and the stories of people he has assisted to dramatically illustrate how the miraculous power of hope — in times of despair as much as in times of triumph and joy — can transform and enrich our lives. Mental health professionals and educators, clergy and seminarians, marriage and family counselors, spiritually-based therapists, social workers, students of psychology, and practicing and aspiring spiritual advisors and directors will benefit from reading this book. So will victims of a troubled childhood, sufferers from depression, those lacking self-confidence, seekers of all faiths, and survivors of all manner of abuse—as well as the family members, friends, and other loved ones trying to understand and help them. In these painstaking—and sometimes painful-to-read — reflections on a long and well-examined life journey, Dr. Jung shares important lessons anyone can put to use in living a fully authentic life.

Childhood forms the foundation of one’s life. A good, solid upbringing of discipline, education, and direction with a heavy dose of love, guides development into a healthy mature adult filled with confidence, integrity, wisdom, and compassion. It takes decades of hard work for individuals to replace any of these elements should they be lacking from the beginning. Such is the story of Marshall Jung. — Mary Doyle, Doyle's Delights