2020 has been a year of collective uncertainty - we have all had to deal with disappointment and change and being forced to let go of our plans for what we thought this year would look like.

In The Opposite of Certainty, Janine Urbaniak Reid shares with us her experience of letting go of perfection when her son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I listened to the audiobook and it felt like a good friend sharing her experiences. While this was written before this year, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to our current pandemic lives. I appreciate her honesty and openness about her experiences.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson and Netgalley for the free ebook, I also got the audiobook from the library.

This book seems to me to be more like a therapeutic form of journaling for the author. I thoroughly love anything Anne Lamott writes. Her glowing review of this made me expect much better. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I have read many memoirs and specifically a lot of memoirs about health issues. This book was of particular interest since it is about the author's son who faced a brain tumor. We learn about his prognosis and how the author and family cope.

I found the writing about his medical condition very interesting and accurate. I was rooting for her son Mason and also wanted to see the author pull through this ordeal as well. We see her grappling with her faith and loss of control of how things were supposed to be. The book is a good mix of telling her son's story and providing the perspective of a parent whose son is facing dire consequences.

One other interesting point of note is that the author is the best friend of Anne Lamott, who writes the intro and has a blurb on the back cover. Throughout the book, the author will be talking or meeting with her friend Anne and I felt like it was a chance to eavesdrop on this well-known person and see what it would be like to have such a friend during your lowest point. If you are a fan of Anne Lamott's spiritual writing you may also find these passages interesting. There are other types of similar discussions with others about recovery and faith as well, so it that is not your thing, you may not like it.

A memoir of a mother dealing with the illness of a son. The entire family struggles when one of its members has a serious medical condition and uncertainty in almost every aspect exists.

The Opposite of Certainty is a great read that shows us that we are stronger than we know, especially when we face tough times. Janine details the experience of finding out about her son's brain tumor, learning how to cope with her emotions, and trying to stay strong through it all.

Janine starts out by taking her son Mason to get a check-up for some tremors. She knew and felt that something was wrong but tests came back negative. After living a pretty normal life, she noticed that her son's symptoms were getting worse and were more noticeable. Her mother's instinct kicked it and she took him back to a specialist. It turned out that he had a brain tumor.

She didn't want her son to go through radiation or chemotherapy if it wasn't absolutely necessary. When some doctors thought she might be crazy because she didn't automatically agree with that treatment, she still sought out a second opinion.

This book reminded me to trust yourself. I have experienced something like Janine and spent many times at a hospital caring for a loved one. Sometimes we notice symptoms or things that are just off that doctors and nurses wouldn't automatically look for. That doesn't make us wrong for pointing it out. Maybe it's our way of coping but maybe God made us see it so that we could catch it and bring it to a medical professional's attention.

When you go through a stressful time, you constantly feel stressed and on edge. Worrying becomes the norm. But I believe that faith and prayer can help us no matter what. And Janine proved that it helped too.

I give The Opposite of Certainty 5 stars. I loved that Janine opened up completely and that will allow readers to understand her decisions and emotions. Janine, you are a strong woman, mother, and cancer survivor. Thank you for writing this breathtaking book.

Janine Urbaniak Reid wrote an inspiring story full of hope and inspiration amidst uncertainty and times of hardship and difficulty. In Reid’s writing as a mother of a child with a devastating diagnosis, we find solace and a compelling story to look at our faith and relationships. I find her writing to be pure of heart, and genuine. I am blessed to have read this amazing story.

A well written but heart-wrenching tale of motherhood and the things we can't control. Hard to read at times but also a look at how we cope in our hardest moments.

This memoir was thoroughly absorbing and very well-written. The forward was written by Anne Lamott -- how could you go wrong?

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

If you enjoy medical memoirs, this book is for you. If you are a perfectionist, this book is also for you. I personally struggle with wanting life for my family “just so” and this book beautifully illustrates the freedom in letting go of the past and living in the present. The writing was excellent and I would love to read more by this author.

I will be posting a review on my blog shortly.

What happens when we can no longer pretend that the ground underfoot is bedrock and the sky above predictable? Thank you @thomasnelson and @tlcbooktours for sending me The Opposite of Certainty by @janineurbaniakreid. What a timely book as our nation and the entire globe navigates together this time of uncertainty.
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When @annelamott writes the forward to a book, you have to read it. A couple quotes grabbed me from her forward. 💖💖
“God comes to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.” 💖💖
“This is a handbook for how we might all come through impossible times, transformed and yet more ourselves than we’d ever allowed ourselves to be.” 💖💖

That resonated so deeply with the season I find myself in. Not only in regards to covid-19. But the season of uncertainty and rebirth after leaving a 15 year career in youth ministry.
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Janine begins her story with “I want to tell this story as if it happened to someone else.” How many of us after a season of trials have felt these words ourselves. If you are facing uncertainty and want a guide to walk with you, I highly recommend this book
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All Janine Urbaniak Reid ever wanted was for everyone she loved to be okay so she might relax and maybe be happy. Her life strategy was simple: do everything right. This included trying to be the perfect mother to her three kids so they would never experience the kind of pain she pretended not to feel growing up. What she didn’t expect was the chaos of an out-of-control life that begins when her young son’s hand begins to shake.

The Opposite of Certainty is the story of Janine’s reluctant journey beyond easy answers and platitudes. She searches for a source of strength bigger than her circumstances, only to have her circumstances become even thornier with her own crisis. Drawn deeply and against her will into herself, and into the eternal questions we all ask, she discovers hidden reserves of strength, humor, and a no-matter-what faith that looks nothing like she thought it would.

Beautifully written and deeply hopeful, Janine shows us how we can come through impossible times transformed and yet more ourselves than we’ve ever allowed ourselves to be.