It is an amazing book! It went way beyond my expectations! The author is the wife of singer Steven Curtis Chapman. For those who aren't familiar with the Chapmans' story, about four years ago their 17-year-old son accidentally hit their 5-year-old daughter with his car and killed her. The book is Mary Beth's life story, but a large majority of the book focuses on this tragedy and the aftermath. I love true stories and biographies, especially about Christians making it through tough times. I loved that in this book she is totally honest about her grief, how she would get so mad at God and yell at Him, how she would break down remembering her daughter in the weirdest places, how she has this head knowledge that God is in control and there is hope because they'll get to see their daughter again in heaven, but it's so hard to believe it and live it on a daily basis. I know the death of a family, especially a child, must be the worst kind of pain, but as I'm going through other losses in my life, it's encouraging to hear other peoples' stories, even if they're completely different situations. It's nice to know grief is not cut and dried; everyone handles it differently.
I also liked reading about the blessings they received in the little things after their daughter's death. Things like after returning to their house, they found a picture she had drawn of a flower with six petals (they had six kids) and only one petal was coloured in, in her favourite colour. On the back of the paper she wrote SEE, a word they'd never seen her write before. It spoke to them that she was the one 'petal' of the family who was safe with Jesus. And the word SEE was like her saying "SEE? Can you SEE? Everything is going to be all right. I am here with Jesus. I am fine. Heaven is real, the gospel is true, you just have to SEE!" Obviously this little girl didn't know she was going to die and wasn't prophetic, but it's like God used her before she died to give the family a measure of peace afterwards. Some people say it's a coincidence, but I like thinking of it as a miracle. I heard a sermon a while ago about how God still does do miracles today but we often just sweep it under the rug or discount it as coincidence, when really God is always working.
Another very cool thing was that their daughter LOVED ladybugs. When they went to pick a burial plot for her they found a ladybug there, and almost every time they've visited they find a ladybug. One day when they were releasing balloons with notes written on them as a memorial, their other young daughter suddenly had a ladybug land on her finger, sit there for a bit and then fly away with the balloons. How cool that God would do that!
Here is a verse she included in the book that is encouraging to me. It is Psalm 30:5 in The Message translation: "The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter."
2 comments:
I asked for and received this book for Christmas last year. What an incredible book! Praying for you and whatever you're going through.
Sounds incredible and perhaps you read it at just the right time. I love how God chooses to do miracles even though "we sweep them under the rug" so to speak.
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