Disclosure: I received these books to review. Opinions shared are mine; post contains affiliate links.
Remember my post about The Hardest Peace? The author, Kara Tippetts, had a unique stronghold on life even as she faced death. Although she passed away in March 2015, her book Just Show Up is a wonderful demonstration of the way that God’s spirit lives on through her words.
No matter what life has thrown your way, chances are good that you’ve needed help from a friend at some point. In my case, we had a pretty big scare a few weeks ago when my husband went to the ER with chest pains. We were literally getting ready for work/school on a Monday morning when he announced (very calmly) that he thought he’d just head over to the ER and get it checked out. In my desire to keep the children from being alarmed, I tried to keep things as normal as possible while I dropped everyone off, arranged for a substitute teacher, and headed to the hospital. Meanwhile, my friends jumped into action. Although it’s hard to accept help, it was such a blessing that they took care of me. Ali made plans to pick up my kids after school, Lori took care of lesson plans, and Cornelia visited me in the hospital. Several people texted me with notes of prayer all day long. Lori called me around dinner time to let me know that she was planning to bring me dinner. All of these ladies heard me say, “No, no, no….” while my heart was so grateful for their willingness to just show up. They took friendship into action, not content to leave it as a noun. [Read more…]