Disrupted: On Fighting Death and Keeping Faith

I should not be writing this. I had a malignant brain tumor. I had an extremely malignant brain tumor. By all medical statistics I should be dead. Last time I checked dead people dont write. So begins Julie Anderson Loves memoir. It is the funny horrifying compelling story of her battle with an extremely malignant brain tumor. The good news is she survived; the scary news is according to medical statistics and prognoses she wasnt supposed to. Her book is not just a How-To-Be-The-Patient-From-Hell although one could read it for that; it is the story of a woman of faith who believes in a loving God who faces the possibility of her imminent death. As one reader described it: This is a fully realized story of faith the dissolution of faith and the redefinition of faith. As she battles the tumor and as the reader travels the journey with her she takes God to task. Using biblical reflections theological and philosophical deliberations journal writings and sermons shed written (shes been a Presbyterian pastor for over twenty years) she ponders the nature of Gods power miracles and forgiveness. Disrupted will make you laugh and cry. It will compel you to think deeply about the nature of God the experience of being alive and what it means to forgive. What is moving and beautiful about this book is not just the elegantly written story of a courageous struggle for life and hope but also the way that theological wisdom is so naturally woven into the most extreme of lifes experiences. The wind of faith blows through every page moving seemingly as effortlessly as breathing in and breathing out. Julie Anderson Love tells her own story of her battle with brain cancer with amazing candor profound insight and unexpected wit and in the end we not only rejoice in her newfound strength and trust but also in our own. --Thomas G. Long Professor of Preaching Candler School of Theology In Disrupted Julie Anderson Love breaks the niceness conventions--that code of silence under which pastors live--to tell the poignant beguiling truth about faith community and wholeness. As Love trudges through the shadow of death we learn about the abundance of life. When she analyzes betrayal we discover the audacity of love. And when she examines illness we realize the tenacious act of healing. --Carol Howard Merritt Pastor of Western Presbyterian Church Washington DC Disrupted could be called a spiritual autobiography but I would call it a study in wrestling with angels. Like Jacob of old Julie Anderson Love does not walk away unscathed yet she emerges having demanded--and received--profound blessing. Read this book and learn to make your own demands amidst lifes struggles--and walk on blessed for having done so. --Eric Elnes author of The Phoenix Affirmations and Asphalt Jesus Julie Anderson Love grew up in rainy Seattle and loves mountains evergreens and a good cup of coffee. She has had one sermon published in the Journal for Pastoral Care and two narratives published in Drama Resources. She earned her MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary and her MFA from the University of San Francisco. She lives in Marin County with her husband her daughter her dog Corin and her cat Monkey.