Tears fell, like the weight of all that is human, as her blonde locks float to the ground; husband, razor in hand, kids near, watching their mother face death with dignity and grace.
Her face graven on the screen before me; honest, transparent, authentic….everything I long to be, but shuffle through the stones of mourning, often unseen.
Somehow I think light always shines like victory, desserts shouldn’t abound this journey.
Still, there she is, fully human. Something I struggle to be, most seasons.
I mistakenly want all glory now, the holy eternity, beholding my eyes each second in this life.
There she stands, like a hairless soldier, face fierce, unwavering on a screen.
Not running, not letting darkness shrink her into a crumbling mess, not walking in denial, the kind I have often seen my sorrows hide behind…
But bold, upfront, in a way so the world can know…she must have experienced…
Even suffering can be holy, when we consecrate ourselves wholly to Him.
Glory and suffering cups itself like fingers on two hands woven together, tightly grasping, ever linking in the land of the living.
Yet, this world wants glory now, without pain. “Religion” often demands no flaws. Fallen humans understandably want resurrection without prior crucifixion.
She didn’t choose this path of cancer, ravaging her body. Just like we don’t or shouldn’t ever walk into suffering callously or willingly…without first counting the costs….
Still, she found in it all, her voice rising, as her body faded. (Watch Kara’s documentary, “The Long Goodbye”)
She got thinner, but the glory in her life only rose thicker, the sicker her body got.
Empty joy turned to deep security in a God who loved her despite her loss. A Father who would meet her in the injustice of it all, lead her like a Good Savior to her eternal home.
And I had been marinating on these thoughts lately…this idea that as a society we become experts at running from the valley’s in our life. We tend to blanket over all hard, want to run uphill in our own power and strength, because….
We all want the mountain of Moses, where the glory of the Lord shines most.
Yet, the valley is where the masses get touched. It is where the people learned lessons from the one who radiates with the glory of Him.
And Kara radiated with glory, even unto her death.
So why do we become so afraid of suffering? So bitter by even the smallest stumbling block, forcing us to point fingers, blaming God for not bringing us heaven here on earth?
If Jesus, a perfect man, had to wail in the garden, bleed amongst sinners, get persecuted by the very people who waved him into Jerusalem, fanned by palm leaves just a few days earlier…
Didn’t He say is we are His followers, we would be persecuted too? (John 15:20)
Why do we scoff at hardships? Turn from a merciful God because our Sovereign Father didn’t write our story the way we wanted?
When did we steal His pen, rise is self-righteousness and think, if we are just good enough, life will go our way?
Aren’t we just all just sinners, saved by grace?
Kara Tippetts captived the world when I first started blogging. A fellow blogger gripping the internet with her story of joy amongst difficulty, beauty among ashes.
Yet, the world couldn’t understand how she could slowly wither with pain, with such dignity, every step of the way.
Regardless, they were drawn to her story like a moth to the flame.
Why didn’t she hide, shrink, or run from suffering? Questions ached from us all.
Doesn’t the world force blame at all imperfections, ridicule and turn scornfully from people who don’t look perfect, families lined up in a row, showing the world some image we think we need to display…
Yet, here was Kara…hard words, honesty and humility….captivating, smothering over the glorious and glamorous with her documentation, “The Long Goodbye”, of dwindling grace to live in a world.
She would soon leave her small children behind….
Plagued by cancer, the world watched as she painfully passed from her husband, leaving him a single dad and pastor, tatooing all of our hearts with her glorious smile.
Kara writes to Ann Voskamp on her blog Mundane Faithfulness, soon before she passes. Ann had taught her, suffering is wedded union with glory. Ann is also the reason I started blogging.
Ann so eloquently ushers in truth, that life doesn’t always go perfect…
Yet amidst the ashes, Jesus can be found close, standing in the flames.
Your legacy matters. Tippetts personally shares one-on-one with her youtube audience, gripping us all 
by the raw courage of a woman who teaches with boldness as she passes.
Joanna Gains, Joni Erickson Tada, & Ann Voskamp share in her documentary that lives on, encouraging us all about rising from our pain, facing our trails knowing Jesus lives amdist it all.
We don’t need to hide from a world that constantly demands perfection.
I see the end of Kara’s story, how she moves with a strange awe and joy.
Yet, recall the season when she lived. The words she spoke. My fellow blogging community struck with this strange, frozen sense that maybe, perhaps, God remains closest in our pain.
He is here. This moment is a gift. I look over at my husband, blood pumps from my chest and eyes blink with the truth that in this moment we’ve all fallen short.
Life is a gift. It is something Kara would have wanted us reaching for, not just existing through.
Our children, treasures, the gifts of love God puts around us, are for living and embracing, not taking for granted or discarding.
Because we haven’t earned some right to live. We don’t write our own stories. Only He knows the beginning and the end.
Let’s take this treasure of life and live it in the way Kara taught us, expelling love to our fellow man, embracing the moments and not taking for granted what each of us have….
Because, who knows, tomorrow it could be us meeting Jesus.
* I finish this post. Then whisper, “Thank you, Kara”. As if she could hear me, somehow. Immediately, I hear an alert on my phone. I open a text & read the “Daily Verse”. It says…
“Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.” ~ Daniel 12:3
4 Comments
This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
So glad you could join us in reading today, Sharon!
Jen, I remember following Kara’s story, and know her life inspired MANY.
I love Ann V too, and have learnt SO MUCH from her over the years, through her blog, books and videos.
BUT I have also seen God powerfully at work in YOU and in YOUR life. What you and Cid do is only possible by mega downloads of God’s Grace! Your life stands out just as Kara’s did and Ann’s does.
To me, you are one of MY FAITH HEROES too.
May you know God’s sustaining grace and empowering love in every moment of every day.
With love, Mary. xx
Mary – “What you and Cid do is only possible by mega downloads of God’s Grace!”
Ain’t that the truth! His grace is sufficient & His power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)