Under a Desert Sky: Redefining Hope, Beauty, and Faith in the Hardest Places

There comes a time in life when we find ourselves in the desert place of burning questions. Why? Why me? But even as we shake our fist heavenward, the heart whispers another question. Who? Who are you, God? It is a question of relationship, a question we all murmur in the hardest places.
Against the backdrop of the Sonoran Desert, Lynne Hartke asks her own hard questions as cancer arrives like a thief with one goal: to take it all. Hair. The contents of a stomach. A marriage. A life. As her days become a blur of doctors' appointments, treatments, and surgeries, she wrestles with a tumble of tangled emotions, a shaken faith, and self-doubt. Cancer is now not only threatening her own life, but, in a surprising twist, the lives of both her parents as well.
Through her raw, lyrical words, Hartke invites fellow sojourners to discover that in life's hardest places, they are not alone in their fear, they are not foolish to hope, and they are never forgotten by a loving, pursuing God. Never.

My thoughts: Wow, this book is a beautiful one on how to survive in the deserts on life. How to thrive when the difficult comes. I appreciate Lynne's honesty and thoughts as she opens her heart on dealing with cancer. This is a great book, especially if you or a loved one are dealing with a cancer diagnoses.
I received this book from Revell in exchange for my honest review.

And it was beautiful

“I was here. I saw beauty. I embraced it.”
—Kara Tippetts

How do you live out extravagant love in the everyday moments? How do you celebrate grace when your life turns out differently than the one you dreamed?

Kara Tippetts discovered how to find joy in the small moments of life. She learned how to hold tight to hope even while battling intense physical and emotional pain. And she lived out the truth that God can redeem any story.

In her final book, Kara offers gentle reflections on living and dying well. She invites us to cultivate soft hearts even when we face great disappointment. Her ideas for living are hard-won, wrestled with in the crucible of family, illness, and faith. And her constant reminder is that whether we are in the midst of dark days or mundane moments Jesus is always there, life is surprisingly beautiful, and God is forever good.

My thoughts: Kara's journey with cancer has hit me hard since I read her first book around the time that we found out that my MIL had breast cancer as well. While their journey's (and where they were at in life) were different, it was still hard to read about what she went through. I appreciate Kara's openness and willingness to share about the struggles she faces to take up her cross and love well. I cried reading this book and how she challenged me to take each day as the blessing it is. I appreciated some of what she shared on parenting, and especially love the idea of doing a ten year trip with each child.
This is a beautiful reminder to live well.
I received this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review.

Just Show Up

Kara Tippetts’s story was not a story of disease, although she lost her battle with terminal cancer.

It was not a story of saying goodbye, although she was intentional in her time with her husband and four children. Kara’s story was one of seeing God in the hard and in the good. It was one of finding grace in the everyday. And it was one of knowing “God with us” through fierce and beautiful friendship.

In Just Show Up, Kara and her close friend, Jill Lynn Buteyn, write about what friendship looks like in the midst of changing life seasons, loads of laundry, and even cancer. Whether you are eager to be present to someone going through a difficult time or simply want inspiration for pursuing friends in a new way, this eloquent and practical book explores the gift of silence, the art of receiving, and what it means to just show up.

More about the authors: The late Kara Tippetts was the author of “The Hardest Peace” and blogged faithfully at mundanefaithfulness.com. Cancer was only a part of Kara’s story. Her real fight was to truly live while facing a crushing reality. Since her death in March 2015, her husband, Jason, is parenting their four children and leading the church they founded in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ***||*** Jill Lynn Buteyn is the author of “Falling for Texas,” an inspirational novel, and a recipient of the ACFW Genesis Award for her fiction work. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Bethel University. Jill lives near the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her husband and two children.

My thoughts: I knew this book was going to be a hard one to read when it arrived in my mailbox! I read Kara's first book around the time my MIL was diagnosed with breast cancer, so it hit me hard. To see that Kara lost her battle to cancer at such a young age seems unfair. But, as I read the book, I was amazed at the message of hope found in it, one that I should of seen as a Christian. Even though it is tragic that she left behind her husband and young children, she is in a better place where there are no more tears, no more suffering.
If you have had tragedy hit the life of a friend and you just don't know how to handle being their for them, I highly suggest this book! It is a wonderful resource for those who want to help but don't know how to be there for a friend or loved one. I like how Jill points out that many offers to help are broad, leaving the one suffering to wonder if it was an honest offer or not.
One of my favorite quotes from the book: "we put so much pressure on ourselves to do everything right that many of us decide it's too hard to even attempt entering into someone else's suffering."
I received this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review.