My first encounter with Kara Tippetts' writings was from the joint venture she did with Jill Lynn Buteyn on Just Show Up: The Dance of Walking Through Suffering Together, which I find humbling and beautiful all in itself.  Since then, I've added her first book, The Hardest Peace to my TBR list. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to read it yet.  Now, as her third and final book, And It Was Beautiful released, I had the honored and privilege to read it.

And it Was Beautiful is a collection of essays she wrote on her blog, Mundane Faithfulness, and compiled to allow us to share in her journey. It is not in chronological order, but in an order that feels right.  Kara is brutally honest with what cancer is, what grief is and what dying feels like.

"...I felt completely tanked.  I thought I could do survivorship.  But I found out I cannot do 'the worried well' on my own. I can't tough it out. So I guess I'll have to keep on being needy, dependent, spent, always begging for grace.  It's not a bad place to be, by any means.  I'm just tired of it. I just don't want to be sick anymore."  (96)

Her "I just don't want to be sick anymore", echos many who have been sick before, even if it's a prolong cold that just doesn't want to give up.  I've had my share of sickness leaving me empty and tired, and what little time it was, it didn't bode well for me emotionally and physically.  I'm not saying it's comparable to Kara's or those with similar experiences, but we can understand a bit about being tired and drained.

Kara talks about loving, about doing the most mundane things in life, and enjoying it, because it may be her last, and seeking peace in it all. Her honesty not only opens our hearts to her experience, but to feel and learn to love more consciously and to see life as it is - sometimes fragile, sometimes gloomy, but always beautiful.

"What really got us through were the years and years committed to learning to love." (170)

"Dumbledore says, 'Your mother died to save you.  If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love....To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.  It is in your very skin. (Taken from Harry Potter series).' ... Isn't that beautiful? Love changes us.  It changes those we extend our love to.  Love matters, always." (236)

And then I'm reminded by of 1 John 4:19, "We love because He first loved us."

"...as you search for a safe place, be a safe place in return.  God loves seeing us seeking Him together." (101)

"My love will never be enough. But the One who sacrificed Himself on a tree many years ago loves...far more than I do. I don't need to struggle to wonder if I have loved enough in this life.  That's in God's hands." (44)

Kara, through her journey with God, and yes, with  dying, found beauty in it all - in herself, in the "gift" of cancer, in her relationships, in the simplicity and in God.  And it was beautiful, yes it was.



NOTE:  I received a complimentary copy of this book through Litfuse Publicity Group for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. For my review policy, please see my Disclosure page.