"Life can be so hard and the journey toward redemption sometimes feels so long. My peace is often robbed, and I forget to rest in Christ. So I need reminding, I need the truth placed constantly before me. I'm needy, and that drives me to grace."
These words are honest reflections from Kara Tippetts, popular blogger who died from cancer last year. Her book, And It Was Beautiful, contains a selection of posts from her blog, tracing her journey from the beginning of her treatment to her final resting with God.
I'm not going to lie, this was a difficult book to read. But difficult because of its raw honesty and the questions it forced me to ask myself. When life is hard in ways we never expected to happen to us, where do we turn? Do we become hopeless or do we look to the Author of hope? Kara knew just where she needed to be but she readily admitted it wasn't always easy.
The book is laid out in four parts, or acts, to cover her battle with cancer. Each chapter is a separate post so they're only two or three pages in length. Through the posts, you learn about her family (husband and four young children), her surgeries and treatments, the doctor appointments and radiation, everyday struggles and blessings, and finally, her passing into eternity. She holds nothing back, being completely transparent about the difficulty of losing her hair, the emotional journey of a double mastectomy, talking to her kids about the hard.
From the time she started her blog, Mundane Faithfulness, people were drawn in by her openness and humor. Despite the serious nature of this book, I found myself smiling many times with Kara's descriptions of herself or things brought into her life. Reading her words is like chatting with a friend; someone you can cry with, laugh with, admit how you're struggling and how you're winning. I read the book in three days because I wanted the conversation to keep going.
One of the things I marveled at while reading this book was her simple joy. Their family was able to enjoy some vacations and go to fun places to make memories before her time of earth ended but Kara knew everyday was about making memories. She wanted her kids to remember her reading books with them, sitting by the fire drinking coffee, praying with them, snuggling at bedtime. All the things we might look at as ordinary she craved to experience one last time. And that made me think, even if we don't have cancer, are we savoring each day with those we love? Do we wake up anticipating what God has for us? I confess, I don't always find the joy in my circumstances.
And to me, that's part of the blessing in reading And It Was Beautiful. Not just to be encouraged by what God gave Kara the strength for and the knowledge she's praising Him in heaven now. But the chance to evaluate ourselves and, after seeing God's grace in Kara's life, look for evidence of that same grace in our lives. To be challenged to find joy in the everyday and in the hard. And to be able to say whatever God brings, it is beautiful.
I was given a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions in my review are my own and were not influenced by anyone else.
If you would like to read other reviews of this book through the blog tour I'm involved in, please check out the Litfuse Publicity page here: http://litfusegroup.com/author/ktippetts
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