Thoughtful Thursdays: Aly’s Fight — Choose Joy

I was able to receive the book Aly’s Fight: Beating Cancer, Battling Infertility, and Believing in Miracles and give my honest review of the book. No other monetary compensation was received.

I get asked to do reviews of products often. And often, I do not respond to the emails.

But when I received the email to review Aly’s Fight, I knew right away I wanted to read it. I had never watched the TLC show that Aly and Josh Taylor are in. I did not know anything about them. However, the email gave me enough information to let me know that this book was about a young couple who had a lot of heartbreak, many struggles; yet through all of their trials, they did not lose their faith in God.

Stories like their story needs to be shared!

I obviously am not infertile. We have five children. Yet for over 2 years, I was unable to become pregnant and was on fertility medicine. So for a brief two years, I struggled with not being able to conceive and not knowing what to do next. I won’t even pretend to say that I know what it feels like to never be able to conceive, but I had a small taste of what other couples experience.

This is a book of HOPE!

Here we see how God answers prayers against all odds — and how He gets the glory!

Josh Taylor says in the introduction:

“We live in a fallen world. So instead of praying for a simple easy life, I have chosen to embrace the troubles we go through and hold the hand of the One who has overcome them. When we do this, we are living the rich and satisfying life Jesus talks about. Joy in trial. Intimacy with Christ. Peace that surpasses understanding. Let John 16:33 be an anthem whenever you find yourself starting to dwell on the darkness in the world, ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.'”

This book is testament to the fact that this is how Josh and Aly have chosen to live their lives — trusting that God is always good, and they have found an abundant and joyful life in Christ. They have chosen joy.

Aly’s Fight is an easy read that goes back and forth between Aly and Josh each sharing their side of the story. It shares Aly’s struggle with aggressive breast cancer at age 24, the couple’s heartache on learning they could never physically bear children, their road to adopting their first child, the miracle of finding out they were expecting, and then being able to adopt another child from the same birth mom who bore their first child. They had 3 girls in 16 months! Of course, before those 16 months, there were many terrible months through which they experienced much sadness and grief as well as the love and grace of God.

Throughout the book, Ali and Josh are honest and vulnerable with their struggles and feelings during the whole process.

Ali shared at the end of the book:

“We never let our struggles overpower our blessings, but we want to be real with others about not only the battles we’ve won but also the ones we’re still fighting.”

Some of the best advice in the book is the advice to choose joy. Here is part of what Ali says about choosing joy:

“Joy isn’t a feeling; it’s an outlook on life. Of course I want my kids to be happy, but I don’t pray for their happiness that much. Instead, I pray that they find their true unending source of joy in Jesus Christ. They have to choose Him and choose to live in the joy He gives every day, no matter what the circumstances of their lives are at any given time.

Choose Joy!

My readers can enter the following giveaway to receive their own copy of this book. Winner must reside in the United States. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their name and address. After 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. Creative K Kids is not responsible for the fulfillment of this prize.

Here are 2 other giveaways you can enter:

• 1 set of Wrap Buddies
• Eat Like You Give a Fork: The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive Cookbook

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