Megan Gaddis was poised for a life of greatness. As a twenty-six years old, she had graduated from Vanderbilt University and enjoyed the single life of friends, meaningful work, and family. In the spring of 2007 she began having strange memory lapses. After a seemingly endless battery of medical testing, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, diagnosed Ms. Gaddis with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a fatal, degenerative brain disease so rare that it strikes fewer than one in 100,000,000 young people.
For the sixteen months between the onset of her symptoms and her death, Megan bore up with startling grace while her family struggled with the incomprehensible diagnosis. They were surrounded by the love of their community, praying for a miracle for beautiful young Megan.
Megan’s mother, Marcia, began posting journal entries on a website devoted to patient care. The stream of writing that resulted went beyond Megan’s failing health, to chronicle a family’s thorny path from suffering and loss to transcendence and deeper faith. That chronicle forms the basis for When God Comes Near. The resulting tapestry provides insights – both personal and universal – into questions that have challenged people of faith for generations.
Why does a loving and all-powerful God allow suffering? Why am I chosen to suffer? Where is God when I need Him the most? In sharing her journey of faith through unspeakable circumstances, Marcia Gaddis weaves scripture, her daughter’s diary, literature, and her own poetic revelations into a narrative of great scope.
Keiki’s Review ~
When God Comes Near is a intimate look into the last days and those that followed as told by her mother, Marcia Gaddis. This is an honest, genuine and transparent faith filled story. The author invites the reader to peak into the thoughts of a mother loosing her daughter.
Those who claim the name of Christ are not immune to grief and heartache, if anything, they are more susceptible to them. What could be more devastating than the loss of a child? In When God Comes Near, you do not read the story of lost hope, though there are moments of questioning and times of struggle. Instead, what you read are the thoughts and journal entries of a faith filled mother.
Reading through this book was difficult at times. I have children about the same age as Megan Gaddis. My thoughts went immediately to how I would react if I were in the same situation.
But this story is as much about Megan as it was about her mother’s trial. Included on page 59 is a beautiful prayer she captured in her journal just before she got sick…
I’ve often heard that we should be careful what we pray for because we might just get it. Megan’s prayer was answered. This book tells the story of how.
If you have lost a loved one, I recommend When God Comes Near. If you’d like to know more about Marcia Gaddis, read the online journal at www.marciabgaddis.blogspot.com
Thank you, Keiki,
I am so grateful for your touching review as well as the follow-up of using the book for another. Thankful for you, Marcia Gaddis