I ordered this book from my local library because of another book by the same author that I really enjoyed (Good Enough by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie–Book Review). In this memoir, Kate walks us through her experience of being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at the age of 35. It deals with the issues of suffering, pain and the seemingly random events that cause them.
All of us are living with uncertainty, but most of the time, we choose to ignore it. We meander along, day by day, behaving as if our life will last forever and nothing much will change. Having a life-threatening disease reveals the absurdity of our assumptions. Will this be my last Christmas? My last birthday? Will my young son remember me? What’s more important — my accomplishments or my relationships? These are the kinds of questions the author asks herself as she navigates her health crisis.
Kate survives, but her perspective has changed. She now realizes that in light of our mortality, the question is “how do we live now?” Each of us is living in the space between a past that is over, and a future that is uncertain. We must learn to accept that with courage, doing what is possible today. The promise of eternal life always gives us hope, but when it comes to our life here and now, we will never feel finished.
At the end there is an appendix listing some of the cliches we often hear to explain suffering, and along with what the author has experienced as the more complicated truth.
VERDICT: 4 STARS. This is an easy and inspiring read.
For more spiritual memoirs see:
Where the Light Fell by Philip Yancey–Book Review
Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me by Ian Morgan Cron–Book Review
Lutheran Ladies Connection 
Pingback: God On Mute by Pete Greig–Book Review | Lutheran Ladies Connection
Pingback: Quilt of Souls by Phyllis Biffle Elmore — Book Review | Lutheran Ladies Connection
Pingback: The Undoing of Saint Silvanus by Beth Moore — Book Review | Lutheran Ladies Connection