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Days Like These: Even in the Darkest Moment, Light Can Shine Through By Kristian and Rachel Anderson Book Review



In Days Like These, Kristian and Rachel Anderson has written this book to display that even when the circumstances of life throw us off course and we can’t see the light from the darkness that surrounds us, God is still there in the mist of the storms. The book began as blog posts from Kristian’s website until it grew to a fan base of billions of users reading about his journey and challenges. Later his wife decided to turn the blog post into a book where he could leave behind a legacy to his two young boys. Kristian married Rachel and they had two boys under the age of three and they lived in Australia. At the age of thirty-four, Kristian Anderson started to get a little stich in his side and he noticed that he had a little blood in his bowel movements. He eventually went to the doctor and they discovered that he had a blood clot on his lungs. But it turned out that the used a voice recognition software to file the reports and it misheard the doctor said no blood clot present. The doctors did notice that he had something on the bottom of his lung and they ran more tests and found out that he had cancer. The cancer was located in his bowel and it was wrapped around 75 percent of his colon and it already was spreading to the liver. When he found out he had cancer, they had to make a decision together. Rachel desperately wanted to have four children and the chemo had a risk factor of damaging his sperm and they might not be able to swim. He went to the In Vitro Fertilization to save some healthy samples. Kristian underwent chemo and many different medicines to try and kill the cancer cells. He shared all of the details and his emotions throughout the book in his brave battle for his life. At the end of each chapter, Rachel also expressed her thoughts and concerns about the battle against cancer alongside her husband. Unfortunately, Kristian lost his battle with cancer on January 2, 2012.

 

Kristian also made a very personal memorable birthday video for Rachel’s birthday. He was holding up signs with his two young boys to show his wife how much he truly loved her. He also got Huge Jackman to appear in the YouTube video. The video finally went viral and was seen all over the world and it even reached the eyes of Oprah Winfrey. This video is one that will have you in tears! Oprah also had Kristian and Rachel appear on her show when she was in Australia and Microsoft donated an enormous amount of money to assist them with their medical bills.

 

One of the private stories that he conversed was about a conversation he had with his youngest son, Jakob while putting him to bed. Kristian told him that he would always love him and would be in his heart forever, no matter what occurs. He kept reinforcing to his son that he would live in his heart and he was explaining that sometimes when you’re very sick you have to go away and you can’t return. His oldest son, Cody overheard the conversation and screamed with tears running down his creeks and declared, “YOU CAN’T LEAVE! Why are you going, and why can’t you come back? There’s only one daddy for a family, and you’re our daddy…and… and… you can’t go!” (Page 182). This like any parent caused Kristian to break down and cry. This was the most exquisite piece of the book that touched me emotionally. I can’t even began to imagine having to say goodbye to your spouse or children.

 

I would recommend this marvelous book to anyone who is looking for some hope in their life and it is a great book for someone battling cancer. This is the first book that I have read that I will admit to having cried and have gotten teary eyed while reading it. It was a heartbreaking book to read about Kristian’s journey through having cancer and he still managed to trust God. I immensely appreciated how he revealed the details of his roller-coaster ride of getting a little better to getting worst to getting better, and so on. I haven’t had cancer but I lost an aunt to cancer and a few other people that I know to the horrible disease. I specially loved the numerous scripture verses Kristian included and the positive confidence that Christ wouldn’t fail him or his family.

 

I love how transparent Kristian was and he shared his feelings about the pain of having to battle cancer. He was very expressive and he described the terrible symptoms he dealt with each and every day. Kristian’s love story about loving his wife and sons was evident throughout the book, and it made me want to be the kind of brave and courageous man, husband, and father that he was. I’m not even married yet and I don’t have kids yet but it presented me with an example of an extraordinary man to look up to. In reading his book, I felt the love he had for his beautiful wife and his handsome two boys and he tried to cherish them with each passing moment. I liked how Rachel was candid about how she felt when she saw the person that she loved struggling and in extreme agony. She was very genuine about describing her dreams to have more children and how she begged him to try to get her pregnant before he underwent chemo. He refused to try because he feared if something happened to him he didn’t want her to have to take care of three children alone. I liked how the book showed how it affected her through his sickness and that she had a difficult time too. If you’re looking for an inspiration book that will give you hope even when we don’t understand, why pain and sickness must exist, then this book will impact you and point you to the light and hope of Jesus Christ!  
 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher through the Book Sneeze/ Zondervan book review bloggers program.” 
 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Days Like These, check it out on Amazon.com:
 


 
Check out the video, Kristian made for Rachel’s Memorable Birthday:

http://vimeo.com/14325334 

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