“Everything happens for a reason… Oh how many times, we all have heard those words; at a cancer diagnosis, at another medical diagnosis, at the loss of someone way too soon, and the list goes on and on. I don’t know about you but every time I hear those words, I honestly want to yell out a bunch of expletives. But being the person God created me to be, I simply have to step back and not say anything at all.

In my growing up years, there were many times I was angry with God; angry that my mom lives with a mental illness. Later in life, angry that another family member lives with a mental illness too. Yet I have come to realize how important it is to have people who will listen and simply sit with me during these difficult times.

So Kate Bowler’s book “Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Learned to Love” was just what I needed to read! In fact, now I understand why so many of my friends and colleagues were raving about this book. She has this way of honestly portraying what it is like to live with an illness and to wonder where God is and wonder why people are saying the things they are saying. She asks the questions and thinks the profound thoughts that so many of us have struggled with along our faith journey.

Don’t walk, but run to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of this book. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

And here are a few of my favorite quotes from Kate’s book:

“In this world there is no such thing as undeserved pain. There is no word for tragedy.” (Everything Happens, P. 26)

“I don’t know what the word ‘trust’ means anymore, except there are moments when I realize that it feels a lot like love.” (Everything Happens, P. 110)

“Jesus is on a donkey trudging into Jerusalem, people waving their arms in the air, tattered coats thrown down before the One who marches toward His death. It is a celebration. It is a funeral procession. Holding Zach in my arms, fifteen days from my next scan, I wish I knew the difference (Everything Happens, P. 112).”

“Sometime this ability to live in the moment feels like a gift. My pain feels connected to the pain of others somehow (Everything Happens, P.144).”