Weekend Book Review, Choosing to See

   I am in a book club at my church.  We meet once a month and each month a new person chooses the book we will read for the next month.  I love (usually) reading books from all sorts of genres, books that I wouldn't have picked up off the bookshelf and read without the encouragement of the book club. Click Here to read my review of the book I picked last time it was my turn. 

     Last month the lady who chose, picked a book I had considered choosing so I was excited to get to read it!  I knew going in that Choosing to See, by Mary Beth Chapman was going to be a hard book to get through without crying.  Well, I got to the dedication part and I was already crying! 

   In this book Mary Beth takes us through the ups and downs of her life through marriage, motherhood, adoption, and dealing with the death of a child. She is very honest about her thoughts, emotions, embarrassing moments...sometimes to the point of giving TMI. :) I think that is what makes her so likable though...she shares things that other women sometimes feel, but are afraid to let anyone know about. When I finished it was like I was reading the book of a friend or someone I felt I knew well.

   If you have heard of Mary Beth's story you know that her youngest daughter, Maria, was killed in a heart breaking accident.  Probably half of the book shares life after that life changing moment.  My heart was so heavy reading the deep, raw, honest depiction of grief that the author and her family went through and still feels.  I think the family realizes that God had big plans for them and plans for good to come out of losing Maria and yet reality is that living those plans has seemed unbearable many days.  One of the things she says that stuck with me was that she had always told her kids that "God doesn't make mistakes." After the accident she had to decide if she still believed that and then live it out. 

I would definitely recommend reading Choosing to See, just make sure to have a box of tissues nearby!