Weak and Loved: A Mother-Daugh

“People say be strong.
I say be weak and be loved.”

It was a time of abundant, noisy blessings for Emily Cook. Five children, age 5 and younger, energetically consumed her food, her time, and her heart. Then, in the fall of 2008, this loud and happy life was shattered by a deafening silence. Bouncy four-year-old Aggie was stopped in her tracks by a seizure--It was to be the first of many.

This story includes no clichés or easy answers, and it is not an attempt to answer complicated questions of human suffering. Rather, it is a demonstration of God's faithfulness toward one sick child and her imperfect mother: both weak, but both loved. Aggie had a brain tumor that disrupted her young life; her mother’s sin and selfishness disrupted her best attempts to care for her. Written from the perspective of a mother who suffers with her child, Weak and Loved allows readers to experience the struggles of faith and encouragement of God. Readers will enter the difficult, earthy, and sometimes humorous world of a sick child, and be pleased to find the beauty of God's love in Christ even there.

"Weak and Loved is a remarkable story of clarity about the inner turmoil of a parent who questions what is happening, herself, and even God. By God’s faithful persistence in working with her in the turmoil, not removing her from it, Emily learns about God’s love for her daughter, her husband, her other children, and ultimately God’s love for her."
Rev. Richard Shields President, American Lutheran Theological Seminary

Emily Cook is a mother, a sinner, a child, covered in the blood of Christ, and freed from the burden of pretending she is strong. She is a woman growing backward, a mother-child, messy with sin, but rejoicing in the constant love of her Heavenly Father. She lives with her husband and their six children, including now-healthy Aggie, in the arms of the church where he is a pastor.