Part of my story is that after my parents died in a car accident when I was 20, I was so consumed with anger and confusion over why God would allow something so awful that I eventually left the church. It was easy enough to do—I never made a commitment to any particular church in college or to my parents’ church. So when I decided not to go anymore, there was really no one to miss me.
My birthday passed by last week. Passed by is an oversimplification—my birthday squared me up, hit me like a truck, then dragged me behind for days and miles. It felt like a week of revisiting my early grief immediately after Kara died.
A week before my birthday, I was having dinner with several families who often ask how I am; they are safe, and answering honestly helps me heal. On this day, I answered saying how glad I was that I had made it through all the birthdays, but I was interrupted: What about yours—isn’t it next week? That is when my heart sank and tears began to travel down my face.
A frequent question we get here at Mundane Faithfulness is where to find Kara’s old blog posts in their entirety. It’s a frustrating question for all of us because shortly over a year ago, the original Mundane Faithfulness crashed beyond repair and had to be built from the ground up. Meaning, Kara had to start from scratch. Thankfully, she had her own copies of her blog posts, which is what she gave me when she asked me to repost her blog, one article at a time, from the point of her diagnosis. These are the posts we label “Kara’s Collection.”
From an article originally posted August 8, 2013…
I have had a few requests to write on the subject of how to help as well as how to avoid hurting someone facing cancer. I will be writing personally, specifically to cancer, but I feel these principals can help in many areas of life as it pertains to entering hard with another. I also intend to write about when helping hurts. That will be a difficult post to write.
From an article originally posted August 6, 2013…
Please be patient with me as I struggle articulating what is on my heart in words. Throughout this summer I have had many conversations with families concerning my new perspective on parenting, and I have had a really positive response. In its explanation it seems simplistic, but in practice I’m learning the struggle of this new perspective.
