Book Review: Choose Joy by Sara Frankl and Mary Carver



Choose Joy. Sounds easy enough if you are a regular person having a sorta bad day like someone took your parking space or something like that. . .However, Choose Joy was a conscious choice that Sara Frankl made every day. She lived in chronic pain for many years as a result of a rare autoimmune disease. For several of those years she was confined to her home.Choose Joy by Sara Frankl and Mary Carver tells the story of Sara's life. It isn't the story of her disease but instead it is the story of how she chose to live each day for Jesus and reflected Him in her life.

Choose Joy is Sara's words shared about lessons she learned while the disease progressed. Each lesson is pieced together with words of preface from her close friend Mary Carver. Sara blogged for several years as Gitzen Girl and was one of the writers at In-Courage. Before she became ill, Sara worked for a magazine and writing was a part of who she was. She was also a creative gal who designed her own type and made  her words into art for her friends and family. I was amazed at how she continued to share and offer herself to all she came in contact with both on-line and in person. After reading this book, I can say she truly reflected God's love to all she knew. I highly recommend it to any Christian wanting to reflect God's love regardless of what is going on in their life. I think Choose Joy would also make a good gift for someone in a similar situation to help show them look to the good in their life.

Sara Frankl passed away on September 24, 2011, but her legacy lives on. Besides reading her book, Choose Joy, you can also see her story on her blog at www.gitzengirl.blogspot.com. I didn't find her blog until shortly before she entered the arms of Jesus. At the time,  I remember being intrigued by her positive attitude and joy in life despite her struggled and pain from her disease. I was also intrigued because she's another Iowa girl.

Author Mary Carver is also a blogger besides being Sara's friend. You can find her at Dayspring's Incourage, MomAdvice.com, and MothersofDaughters.com.


I received this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for the book.

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