June 21, 2019

One thing that is becoming more and more clear to me in recent months is the finitude of life. This crosses my mind the most when I think of my parents and other loved ones and how I could never have enough time on this earth with them.

In this memoir, author Kate Bowler captures her experience and thoughts as she becomes unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer at the young age of 35, when her career is taking off, her married life is full of bliss, and her family has newly welcomed a young baby boy. This diagnosis in particular mystifies Bowler as the entirety of her religious and professional training on the prosperity gospel has always preached that as long as you have faith, God will reward you with security and prosperity. What you give to the world will come back to you like a boomerang. Life is supposed to be fair: the good should be rewarded and the bad should be punished. So now that she is punished with cancer and illness, there must have a reason. How has she failed? Why her?

As she struggles to understand the turn of events in her life, she does not find all the answers but instead, learns to be open and to accept. People of different beliefs may phrase it in various ways (ways that may even sound undermining and belittling, from responders to her New York Times column), but she internalizes at the end of the day to 'stop complaining and accept the world as it is'. One last conversation she references at the end of her memoir resonates with me. While she may have become more accepting, it by no means symbolizes a surrender or resignation. Instead, regardless of how short or unpredictable life may be, how many times 'we think we have it locked down and it comes undone ... don't skip to the end'.

Continue to support and keep up with author Kate Bowler through her other books and blog at: