CHOOSING TO SEE

I've had Mary Beth Chapman's book CHOOSING TO SEE since it first came out a few months ago, but I put off reading it because I wanted to finish re-reading the HARRY POTTER series and because I knew I needed to be emotionally ready to read it. If you don't know, Mary Beth Chapman is the wife of Christian singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman. (If you don't know who he is, just go to youtube and listen to one of his songs. In the Christian music world, he's huge!) Anyway, in 2008, their youngest biological son (in high school at the time) ran over their youngest adopted daughter (5 years old at the time). It was an accident, but obviously, it devastated their family.

The book is beautifully written and tells the story in such a way that is tasteful and tender. I wept through the majority of it. I couldn't even get through the Forward and Introductions without bawling like a baby. My experience is not at all the same as theirs, but the emotions involved with losing a child are the same. I connected with the pain the Chapmans have been experiencing since this tragedy in their lives. It was so heart-wrenching to read their story, but it was heart-warming to read how God has been with them through this terrible time in their lives.

Mary Beth vividly describes the truth that regardless of our faith, we still hurt to the very depths of our being....we're still sad and so full of pain and anguish that we often wonder how in the world we're going to make it through the next minute, let alone the whole day. But BECAUSE we are people of faith, even in our extreme sorrow, sadness, pain, and suffering, we still experience and KNOW God's peace that passes all understanding...HIS pure JOY in knowing that one day we will all be with our loved ones again....it's simply of matter of CHOOSING TO SEE God at work.

Oh, how I still need those words. It's been 11 years since my FIRST loss, but, like Mary Beth, I still have my good days....and my bad days. My bad days are fewer now, but I vividly remember when there were more bad days than good.

CHOOSING TO SEE is definitely a book worth reading. It is a wonderful tribute to her sweet little Maria who died on that fateful day in May 2008. It's a wonderful tribute to her beautiful family and how they have continued to lean on one another and to have the wonderful support of friends and family through this terrible time. It is also a wonderful tribute demonstrating that God is with us....always, if we simply CHOOSE TO SEE Him.