Faith in the Hard Places: Kim Harms on Cancer, Courage, and Hope
Kim Harms knows what it means to face life’s unexpected detours and find faith in the middle of them. A writer, speaker, and two-time breast cancer survivor, Kim has learned how to hold on to hope when the future feels uncertain. Her new book, Carried Through Cancer: 70 Days of Spiritual Strength from Cancer Fighters, Survivors, and Caregivers,* grew out of her own experience walking that hard road—and her desire to help others find spiritual steadiness through it. She and her husband, Corey, live in Iowa, where they’re navigating the midlife season with their three grown sons, a loyal dog, and a deep appreciation for every ordinary day.
I asked Kim a few questions about how this book came to be and what she’s learned along the way—both about faith and about herself.
Q: Kim, you’ve described how God met you with hope in dark and lonely moments. How do you think these glimpses of God’s presence shift a person’s perspective when everything else feels uncertain?
A: The instances give us core memories that we can return to again and again when faced with something that we don’t know how we are going to get through. If we can remember a specific way that our Savior cared for us previously in a really hard place, we can be encouraged in our current moment that he can and will walk with us again. The more of these memories we store up, the more peace we feel when life throws rocks at us.
Q: As you gathered stories from others who walked through cancer as fighters, survivors, and caregivers, what common threads stood out to you about how God sustains his people in suffering?
A: It seems that what comes out of our Savior meeting us in our suffering is often not what we expect and hope for, but it’s sometimes something we didn’t know we even needed.
I think about Ginny (Day 43) and a relationship that deepened with a teenage son during late-night talks when she wasn’t able to sleep because of treatment. And Heidi (Day 91), who actually met her now husband because of the treatment. And Annie (Day 48) whose husband trusted Christ as his Savior after his diagnosis. And Janice (Day 25), for whom a trip to the ER for something completely unrelated to her cancer led her to a new treatment option that added 8 years to her life.
Cancer is not easy. And the end result is sometimes Jesus taking someone that we are not ready to say goodbye to yet. But no one knows how many days they have left. That is not unique to cancer. And if we seek him, he will be found. And, though some days it’s easier said than done, I would rather choose to cling to him in every situation than to turn away from him in anger or bitterness and lose out on what he has for me within the hardship.
Q: For someone reading this who feels weary—not only from cancer, but from any kind of hardship—what encouragement from your book do you most hope they hold on to?
A: This is a good question for me right now because I happen to currently be walking through some deep hurt completely unrelated to cancer. I daily journal my prayers, and this morning I asked God why he keeps giving me a stone when I ask for bread. Some days are so stinking hard.
My advice (and I am totally preaching to myself right now) is to look for the light. It’s so easy to dwell on the darkness, but if we trust in Jesus, the light is always there. What is something within this hard situation that points me to the protecting, comforting, peace-giving life-saving light of God? Did he allow me a restful night after days of restless ones? Did my Bible reading “just happen” to be exactly what I needed today? Did that one song I needed to hear play on the radio on the way to work? Did my friend gift me a coffee when I was having trouble keeping my eyes open? Daily look for the little gifts, and be hopeful that there will be big gifts that come out of this as well.
Kim Harms is a breast cancer survivor and author of Life Reconstructed. She has a degree in English (Literary Studies) from Iowa State University and has more than two decades of writing experience. In addition to her book, her work can be found in a wide variety of publications, including Joyful Life, Christianity Today, Guideposts, Wildfire, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and more. Kim lives in Huxley, Iowa, with her husband (Corey), two of their three sons, and one crazy dog.
Thank you, Kim for sharing your vulnerable thoughts with us today. What a gift you’ve given to readers who need encouragement both here and in your book! Friends, you can pick up a copy HERE.
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