A Window to Heaven: When Children See Life in Death - Hardcover

Komp, Diane M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0310589703 ISBN 13: 9780310589709

Publisher: Zondervan, 1992

Synopsis

The author describes how her work with children with cancer and their parents has strengthened her Christian faith

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"To love a child who will die soon is to expose one's self to the pain of dying," writes veteran surgeon and missionary doctor Paul Brand about Dr. Diane Komp's work with children. In this richly detailed memoir, Dr. Komp describes her journey to a vibrant faith in God. Schooled by medical mentors who told her to set aside her personal feelings as she treated young cancer patients, Dr. Komp's faith slipped away until she could no longer believe. "If I were to believe," she writes, "it would require the testimony of reliable witnesses . . ." Her "reliable witnesses" appeared in the suffering lives of the children she treated: Children like Anna, who mustered enough energy to sit up in her hospital bed and say, "Mommy, can you see them (angels)? Do you hear their singing?" Or young Donny, a boy with Down's syndrome and leukemia, who entertained his doctor with a mythical feast shortly before he died. Parents, too, bore witness to a God who restores life even in the face of death: the pain of divorce healed at the death of a son; a grieving mom and dad of twins who died within three months of each other: "Soon, Jordan, you will go to see Jesus and Nathan in heaven." Even parents angry enough to "hate" God but who never lost belief. "My own vision of God is more informed by these 'parental theologians,'" writes Dr. Komp. Written with remarkable honesty, A Window to Heaven captures the essence of what it means to believe in God when life's tragedies seem to undermine our faith. It is the story of an unbeliever's journey to a faith guided by her patients, the littlest of God's giants.

About the Author:

Diane Komp has been professor of pediatrics at the Yale University School of Medicine for twenty years. Her dual career as a physician and writer has been featured in Life, the New York Times, Family Circle, Guideposts, Christianity Today, and Today's Christian Woman. She is the author of Breakfast for the Heart and Images of Grace. Dr. Komp lives in Guilford, CT.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0310589703
• ISBN 13: 9780310589709
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128