Review/Giveaway: Choosing to SEE

A WINNING READINGS GIVEAWAY!

Title: Choosing to SEE:  A Journey of Struggle and Hope
Author: Mary Beth Chapman with Ellen Vaughn
Genre: Christian memoir/inspirational

How to enter: Leave a comment on THIS post right here! If you're a subscriber or a follower, leave a second comment for a second entry.

Entry deadline: September 25, 2010

Restrictions: Open internationally!

That's right, enter right here for this giveaway.  This is my review copy, so it has been gently read.

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Publisher:  Revell
Physical Description: 288-page jacketed hardcover
List Price: $21.99
ISBN: 978-0-8007-1991-3
For More Info: http://www.marybethchapman.com/

Synopsis:

"Every now and then a book comes along that is not only great--it's a gift. An extravagant gift. This is one of those books."--Beth Moore


From the beginning, Mary Beth Chapman's life was not how she planned. All she wanted was a calm, peaceful life of stability and control. Instead, God gave her an award-winning singer/songwriter husband, crazy schedules, and a houseful of creatively rambunctious children. Most difficult of all, God's plans for her also included tragedy.

In Choosing to SEE, Mary Beth unveils her struggle to allow God to write the story of her life, both the happy chapters and the tragic ones. And as the story unfolds, she's been forced to wrestle with some of life's biggest questions: Where is God when things fall apart? Why does God allow terrible things to happen? How can I survive hard times?

No matter where you find yourself in your own life story, you will treasure the way Mary Beth shows that even in the hard times, there is hope if you choose to SEE.

About the Author(s):

Mary Beth Chapman is the wife of Grammy and Dove Award winning recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman. Together they began Show Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for the world's most vulnerable children by providing financial assistance to families wishing to adopt, as well as increasing awareness of the orphan crisis and funneling resources to orphans domestically and internationally. Mary Beth serves as president of Show Hope and is a speaker for Women of Faith 2010 with her husband. She is also coauthor with Steven of the Shaoey and Dot series of children's picture books. Mary Beth and Steven have six children: Emily, Caleb, Will Franklin, and adopted daughters Shaohannah Hope, Stevey Joy, and Maria Sue, who is now with Jesus. The Chapmans live in Tennessee.

Ellen Vaughn is a bestselling author and inspirational speaker. Her recent books include It's All About Him with Denise Jackson (wife of Alan Jackson), which debuted at #1 on the New York Times nonfiction list. She is also coauthor with Chuck Colson of Being the Body. In addition to her nonfiction work, Vaughn is an award-winning novelist. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband, Lee.

What I Liked:  I've been a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman forever - I Will Be Here was the main song at our wedding in 1994, and I've thoroughly enjoyed the concerts I've had opportunity to attend - during which we were introduced to Shaohannah and experienced a life-changing interview with Steve Saint.  I've danced with my daughter to Cinderella.

So I mourned with so many others at the death of Steven's daughter, Maria, and was expecting to feel like I was meeting a family friend with this book written by his wife, Mary Beth.  I was expecting to cry - which I did.  I wasn't expecting to meet a kindred spirit in Mary Beth - how much could I have in common with a celebrity?!  Her honesty and transparency in this book are so inspiring.  I recently commiserated with a friend about how much of our lives goes unsaid, unspoken, happens behind closed doors.  We often feel as if we are the only ones suffering, because everyone else seems to be doing just fine.  Yet we have so much in common with each other - if we'd only open our eyes and SEE.

This isn't a book of rote answers.  It's the story of a woman and her struggles, a family and its challenges, and how God's interventions changed them forever.  It's one of those rare page-turning memoirs that is hard to put down.  It includes a photo album.  And for those of us familiar with Steven's music, the background and inclusion of some of his lyrics makes that music all the more powerful.

The story's not over when this book ends.  In fact, it will go on for eternity.  I'm looking forward to reading more!

What I Didn't Like:  I'll be honest here and say that, while the understanding of death conveyed in this book - the state of the dead - is a conventional Christian understanding, it differs from what I believe to be the biblical depiction of death.  As such, I felt a little uncomfortable with some interpretation of events in the book.  However, I wholeheartedly join in the hope we have of being part of Christ's eternal family and found this to be a very uplifting book.

Thanks to Baker Publishing Group for the review copy of this book