The Hardest Peace: expecting grace in the midst of life's hard by Kara Tippetts

Are you wondering how to live while facing the suffering in this life?  What does it look like to have peace in the midst of a trial?  Is God really for me? The trials of life can throw us into pits we never knew existed, and the only way to survive is to look upward.  Kara's book, The Hardest Peace, is a beautiful example of how to look upward during painful times of our lives.  Take the time to checkout this book.  It a book that should be on everyone's bookshelves.

From the Back Cover:
Kara Tippetts knows the ordinary days of mothering four kids, the joy of watching her children grow... and the devastating reality of stage IV cancer.

In The Hardest Peace, Kara doesn't offer answers for when living is hard, but rather she asks us to join her in moving away from fear and control and toward peace and grace.  Most of all, she draws us back to the God who is with us in the mundane and the suffering, and who shapes even our unmet expectations and pain into beauty.

My Review:
I wondered if I would be able to get through this book.  If it would be too hard for me to read reliving the devastating effects of cancer upon someone you love.  But Kara made this book more about Jesus and less about herself.  It was a beautiful story told in a way that brought God glory.  It challenged me to put many things into perspective throughout my life.  And I know I have a lot to think through as I go through my own hard situation with my mother (diagnosed with CBGD--a neurological disease) and in remembering my father-in-law (who passed from cancer last year) and my younger brother (killed in a car accident at age 20).   Life has been hard and this book was such an encouragement to read.  This book has definitely become one of my favorites right along with Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts.  Beautiful stories both born out of grief.  I loved the following passage:

"Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.  Proverbs 1:33 We talked through what this verse really means.  When we listen--really listen--to the Lord, looking Him straight in the face, He removes the dread.  It does not say He removes the disaster.  But the dread of disaster.  ...The dread and fear are what so often steal our peace and leave us on edges of our moments exhausted.  We meet the scary of life and forget to turn to God and listen and know His peace.  We scramble to control, fix, and protect from hard.  The imagined fears and worries often break us more than reality." (pg. 129-130)

If you are struggling through suffering personally or with someone close to you, pick up this book and be encouraged that God is with you.

About the Author:
Kara Tippets was married to her husband, Jason.  Together they were raising four beautiful children while church planting in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Kara has gone home to be with the Lord.  You can find her past writings on her blog mundanefaithfulness.com.