Skip to main content

Love Him Anyway






Love Him Anyway by Abby Banks
The story of Abby and Jason Banks is a remarkable one at that.  From finding out their 3rd child Wyatt is paralyzed to both Abby and Jason having different surgeries, including Austin having two hernias removed, the road of life has been a bumpy one at that.  Yet, there are these glimpses of grace in this book that are evident throughout the pages.  It would be easy to go through the life of this family and become jaded, cynical, and downright pessimistic about life and God, but they have been able to work through much pain in faith, not letting those around them be pushed away by their experiences.
One moment of God’s grace shining through when Abby writes, “A short time later, the doctor called Jason and me into the counseling room. The surgery was over, and Austin had done great. The doctor said she did indeed have two hernias that needed to be repaired. He told us they would call us back shortly to be with Austin in recovery, but first there was a nurse who wanted to speak with me. A nurse in scrubs entered the room and introduced herself.

“I was helping in your daughter’s surgery and heard that you have thyroid cancer. I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that everything is going to be okay,” she said. “I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and just went through my radioactive iodine treatment. I’d like to give you my phone number in case you have any questions later.” I couldn’t help but marvel at how God had orchestrated everything to provide comfort for me during Austin’s surgery.” (36)  We often gloss over small events that happen in our lives when others come into our lives with a similar experience, but these times often leave a deep imprint in our minds and hearts.

Abby spells out the disappointment and heartache very well when finding out about Wyatt’s condition.  The beauty of her writing on this was the sting of trying to figure what the disease was and how to deal with it.  She writes, “This was bad, really bad.  Transverse myelitis is a one-in-a million autoimmune attack, and there is no cure. Only one-third of people with transverse myelitis make a full recovery. One-third make a partial recovery, and one-third make no recovery at all. There was only a 33% chance my beloved little boy would ever get better, and I was devastated.” (71) I felt a similar way when my doctor told me our daughter had a cleft palate, I had never heard of that before.  Further, Abby makes the comment that Jason’s family handled things away from the office at home.  To have a support system like this one is no small thing.

Overall, I know you will enjoy this book, though you may cry and come face to face with real suffering, you will see God’s grace in these pages.


Thanks to Ambassador International for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rise of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman

  The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman Navigating the culture that we take up residence in, with its laser focus on sexual identity, tolerance, and an individualism that raises its head at every corner, Christians need a robust account of how we got to this point in our Western culture without retreating to our churches nor morphing with the latest trends.   Carl Trueman, professor of religion and theology at Grove City College, brings his keen historical research to bear on this issue in his new book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.   Part historical survey and philosophical analysis, Dr. Trueman traces the trajectories of key thinkers such as Rousseau, Freud, and Marx, while also incorporating the insights of Charles Taylor and Phillip Rieff to form a cogent argument as to how we got to this point in our history, both in our expressive individualism and sexual freedom outlooks.   The book is surprisingly insightful and yet demands from the reader the pa

The Conditioned Mind

The Conditioned Mind: Overcoming the Crippling Effects of Sin and Guilt by Michael J. Mannia Counselor and author Michael J. Mannia knows firsthand how the spiraling of sin and guilt can eat away at life.  His new book, The Conditioned Mind, is a look into how believers can overcome the effects of sin and guilt and live in the freedom that we have in Christ.  Through a careful look into the patterns that we develop and the mindsets that we get ingrained in, Michael is able to offer ways through guilt that bring freedom and healing.  I think this is not only a timely but a book that aims toward bringing real healing to its readers. In the first chapter Michael looks at two needs that we have: our need for love and our need for security.  Love isn’t something optional for the human race, but something it needs at its core.  “Additionally, we need to reciprocate love.  We need to feel loved as much as we need to love others (8).”  Love is a two-way street that inv

Passover and Jesus

The Messiah in the Passover , Edited by Darrell Bock and Mitch Glaser Why should Christians celebrate and remember the Passover?   This is a striking question that needs to be understood as well as the historical and theological context of the Passover.   However obscure we sometimes view the Old Testament, there is some significant reasons why we should reach back and study the Passover.   Mitch Glaser in the Introduction states, “When Christians celebrate the Passover, they grow in their understanding of the Old Testament, affirm the Jewishness of the Gospel, deepen our understanding of the Lord’s Supper, and build community with fellow Christians…” (20).   This book is answer to why celebrate the Passover but even more importantly an answer to what the Passover is and what it signifies to us today.   The various contributors of this book, Messiah in the Passover, bring a wealth of ministry experience in relating the Jewishness of both Jesus and the Old Testament to