Thrive, Not Just Survive

Book excerpt: How does one handle hardship? What does it look like to persevere through a painful trial, especially if that trial never leaves? And how can a man who is riddled with anxiety and depression endure the suffering of watching his young daughter battle a terminal childhood cancer and unable to do anything about it?This book tackles several issues including anxiety and depression, overcoming bitterness, learning how to persevere, and how to deal with fear, shame, and guilt. The story includes Kristina, the 8-year-old daughter of Chad and Melissa Barrett, who was diagnosed with Clear Cell Sarcoma and battled it for four years. But this book isn't really about Kristina.This story also includes Chad, who had struggled with anxiety and depression for several years when he and his wife, Melissa, got the dreadful phone call that their daughter has cancer. But this isn't really about Chad, either.This true story is about the God-man, Jesus, who showed up in the midst of this storm. Instead of delivering the main characters from their plight, Jesus did something counterintuitive to us, humans. He led them deeper into the storm and showed His power. Written mostly in story form, his book is proof that the grace of Jesus is sufficient even for a parent's worst nightmare. It's sufficient to take a human, with all his flaws of shame, fear, and guilt, riddled with anxiety and depression, and then the grief from the death of his child, and bring him past the point of surviving into the realm of thriving.Only God can do that. He can do that for you, too, and this book will show you how.