Chasing Hope by Kathryn Cushman (book review)

Chasing Hope

From the back cover:

A Touching Story of Two Unlikely Friends.
The Power of Trust.
The Struggle of Pain.
And How, Sometimes, Following God Can Lead You to the Most Unexpected Places.

A talented runner determined to make the Olympics, Sabrina Rice had her dreams shattered by a devastating diagnosis. One forfeited scholarship and several years later, she's forged a new vision for her future that has nothing to do with running, which she's buried deep, intent on forgetting...

Until the day she sees Brandy Philip running across the college campus, easily outpacing security. Sabrina immediately recognizes world class potential, and it's all the more painful that it belongs to a troublemaking teen. When a chance encounter brings the two young women together, Sabrina realizes she's Brandy's best hope to salvage a life about to spiral out of control forever.

My thoughts:

Chasing Hope by Kathryn Cushman kept me engaged not only in the entanglement of the lives of Sabrina and Brandy, but in their own personal struggles, as well as their needs for an outlet. I identified with both characters' struggles with God's plans for them and how accepting we are of God's plans versus our plans. I felt the story was very thought-provoking in that how do we accept God's plans for our lives versus how we think our lives should go?

As I have started training for a 5K race, I felt connected and interested in the running aspect of the story and feel that the author uses the running not only for the sport but also as a metaphor for our life. Are we running from life or what we are destined to do with our lives? Are we running toward or away from our calling?

Overall, I enjoyed this book tremendously and would recommend it to all.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher, Bethany House, in exchange for a honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.