I believe books are treasures waiting to be found, portals to transport us to another time or place. Written on every topic under the sun and beyond, books are full of knowledge and adventures … and a good one is almost priceless. Its power to captivate your imagination and keep you spellbound, page after page, makes it almost painful to reach the end sometimes. You don’t want to put it down, and you’re afraid to finish it, all at the same time.

As a busy homeschooling mom, sometimes I don’t get the luxury of quiet “alone time” to read as much as I’d like, but recently I picked up a book that took my breath away and spoke to my heart: The Hardest Peace by Kara Tippetts. Just when I thought my circumstances were difficult, I read a book like this one where Kara describes her life as a mom battling cancer, and it makes my complaints pale in comparison.

Her strength drew me in—how in the face of death, she was able to look past herself and see a bigger picture. To be able to view her cancer as a “gift” was almost unfathomable to me. It drove home to me that it’s often hard to see past the immediate issues at hand and catch a glimpse of what’s truly important, until we find it slipping away (or it’s already gone). I found the author’s courage inspiring: to be a better person, to really appreciate what I have.

Even if everything in my day seems to be erupting into chaos, it’s possible to have peace. It was amazing to read about Kara facing the struggles of parenting—like myself, only she did it under pressures I’ve never had to consider even though so many around us are suffering from cancer. (It seems to plague so many families; you would be hard pressed to find anyone nowadays that hasn’t had their family tree stunted by cancer’s brutal pain.)

The Hardest Peace is a bit of an autobiography: Kara talks about her childhood and the journey God has taken her through in life, leading up to where she is at the time of writing the book. How she married a pastor, and gave birth to three daughters.

She dives into the ugly truth of going through chemotherapy: the “silence” it brings from others, the point of exhaustion it brings you to, the humiliation of hair loss (here I am not liking my new hair cut or highlights … reading about someone losing all her hair and the nakedness one feels going through that kinda puts my menial problems into perspective).

She talks about the longings she feels while facing death, as she struggled to do normal everyday things I take for granted: wishing for the strength to bake cookies with her children, play games with them, the energy to take a walk, or dance to their favorite songs. I may not do those things as much as I’d like to, but at least I could if I chose to carve out the time. To be physically incapable would truly be heartbreaking.

At the end of each chapter, Kara wraps up with a few thought-provoking questions intended to get you thinking about how you could apply her story or life lessons to your own life. I liked how that drew the reader into her story.

It was a wonderful read. Her testimony of facing the “hard” in life with such stamina and faith is simply amazing. The book was definitely a tear-jerker at times, but overall it left me with a sense of compassion and a new understanding for those suffering from cancer. I think it would be an encouraging read to someone facing cancer as well.

We each have our own lives to live. What kind of a legacy will we leave behind? Are we just surviving, or do we take the time to make a real difference in the lives of people around us?

Life is truly too short … so go LIVE. Even in the hard of life, just live every breath.