“Like Grace, I didn’t choose to have cancer, and I bet you didn’t choose the junk you’re battling right now. But friend, we can choose to hold on. We may feel powerless, but we’re not. This choice to trust God is still firmly ours. Once we choose to trust God more than we trust the lies, pain, and ourselves, we see he is unshakeable.” p97
Breathe Again: How to Live Well When Life Falls Apart by Niki Hardy, p 97
In Breathe Again, Niki Hardy shares her story of being diagnosed with cancer while still grieving the loss of her mom and sister to cancer. She didn’t have the choice to skip the hard stuff and neither do we. Sometimes life is harder than not, and, when it is, it can be life-giving to read stories of someone who has been there and back again. With raw honesty and a touch of wry humor she invites us into painful, but hopeful stories, necessary learning, and the art of carrying on in faith.
Some key takeaways for me were:
- not waiting for the hard part to be over to live with intention or forward motion.
- addressing lies we might believe about our situations and replacing them with truths about God.
- thriving instead of surviving.
- community and reaching out are more important during hard times than we might like.
- The Thriver’s Manifesto. Loved this.
All in all, a really powerful book for anyone grieving, approaching serious illness, or even just in the middle of ridiculous or worrisome circumstances. This book is a great starting place for picking yourself up after the hard news hits. Or even when you realize you just forgot to keep going after something happened. I appreciated it.
Maybe it’s just what you need?
Here are a few Bonus Quotes:
- “At the heart of this book is my encouragement that thriving – living the full abundant life God has for us – is possible right in the middle of our heartache, tragedy, and yearning.” p 17
- “We are enough because of whose we are, not who we are.” p42
- “Dig roots right where you are; be present in your present situaton. The plans God has are here and now.” p48
- “The world is quick to tell us we’ll find our purpose and live fully and abundantly when our pain is a memory and we have time and energy to spare, but that’s a load of baloney.” p183
- My favorite line of The Thriver’s Manifesto: “I choose brave, knowing it doesn’t need to be big, just intentional.” p205
PS- Thanks for the patience with the double-post today! These two deadlines snuck up on me :)
(Disclaimers: Thanks to Revell for the review copy. All opinions are my own, as usual. Also: post contains amazon affiliate links!)
Erika Shirk 