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.
Can't wait!!! 😄😄😄
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