She was wearing a knit hat. Not surprising for November in Colorado Springs. But when she took it off her suffering was exposed. Her eyes were bright and her smile was warm and her head was bald from chemo.
Now Kara has gone Home to be with the Lord. She was still battling cancer back in November, but in early February her doctors conceded that the chemo wasn’t working. It was time to concentrate on controlling her pain and easing her into death. As Kara said, it was time for the long goodbye.

I am seeing the fading of my life and the shortening of my days. The cancer cells are multiplying, and my strength is decreasing. There is only one answer: the Author of Peace will meet me in my deep distress. His answer is certain; His presence is my peace. — Anchor Devotional, March 11, 2015

Her confidence was confirmed in her final days. She had peace that all would be well with her husband and children; peace that God had written her story; peace that the cross had won her redemption; peace that entering heaven would be unimaginable joy. Jesus kept meeting her with an answer of peace every time her suffering raised a question. And the best answer was Jesus Himself. The anguish gave way because Jesus was there and “His presence is peace.”
 

Her husband Jason, experienced the same remarkable peace: “As much as it is heart-wrenching it is also peaceful. . . I have an us that cannot be lost . . . But I grieve as I watch her fade. The peace that is in our house is amazing, peace in the midst of tears, peace in the midst of impending loss, but it is peace.”
Jason is a pastor. He preaches on Sunday and then practices what he preaches every day in this crucible of pain. He knows Jesus isn’t telling them they ought to have peace or commanding them to work for peace. He’s simply giving them His peace as a gift of grace:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. — John 14:27-28

 

 

After a long battle with breast cancer, Kara Tippetts went home to be with Jesus on Sunday, March 22, 2015. Our prayers and support go out to her husband Jason, their four children, and the congregation they led together in Colorado Springs.

Even as she entered hospice and neared the end of her time on earth, cancer was only part of Kara’s story. Her real fight was to truly live while facing the crushing reality that her body was failing. Jay Lyons, a friend and producer, spent several days with Kara and her family to put together a short docmentary trailer. Here, he captures the emotional journey that occured as Kara began to say her long goodbye.

---

The Hardest Peace

Kara Tippetts knows the mundane but rich days of mothering four kids, the joy of watching her children grow, and the devastating reality of stage-four cancer.

In The Hardest Peace, she invites readers to see the grace of the everyday in all seasons of life and to live well even when the living is hard. Kara explores the hardest questions of life with rare beauty and honesty. But most of all, she draws them back to the God who is present, in the ordinary and the suffering, and shapes every life into the best story of all.