From the beginning, Mary Beth Chapman's life was not how she planned. All she wanted was a calm, peaceful life of stability and control. Instead, God gave her an award-winning singer/songwriter husband, crazy schedules, and a houseful of creatively rambunctious children. Most difficult of all, God's plans for her also included tragedy.
In Choosing to SEE, Mary Beth unveils her struggle to allow God to write the story of her life, both the happy chapters and the tragic ones. And as the story unfolds, she's been forced to wrestle with some of life's biggest questions: Where is God when things fall apart? Why does God allow terrible things to happen? How can I survive hard times?
No matter where you find yourself in your own life story, you will treasure the way Mary Beth shows that even in the hard times, there is hope if you choose to SEE.
I remember hearing when the daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman was killed in a tragic accident. I knew of Steven's music, but wasn't really familiar with him or his family. I remember thinking at the time what a difficult thing to go through. Steven's wife Mary Beth writes of the experience here in her book, Choosing to SEE. She shares their early life; their young marriage, Steven's perseverance in moving his career forward, the birth of their three children and the adoption of three daughters from China.
Always at the forefront is their faith: their faith in God and faith that he has a plan for their lives. Mary Beth is candid in sharing her struggles with depression, her anger at God and her fears of adoption and the subsequent joy she found with her new daughters. When young Maria Sue was killed in a car accident, the situation was doubly tragic because it was the Chapman's son who had been driving. While we get a glimpse of Will Franklin's struggle, I would love to hear his story.
Interspersed throughout the book are lyrics to songs written by Steven Curtis Chapman, many of which were written after Maria Sue's death. The latter half of the book is a series of excerpts from blog entries and letters written by Mary Beth after Maria Sue's death and which helped her to work through some of her grief.
This is a simply written, yet moving story of a family who has learn to SEE that the sun always rises and spring always comes and God is always with us, especially in our deepest moments of grief and despair.
Available September 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
Thanks to Donna Hausler of Baking Publishing for the opportunity to review this book.You can learn more about Mary Beth Chapman here. You can purchase your own copy here
.Read 9/10
* * * *
4/5 Stars
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