This memoir of personal transformation has changed countless lives in Romania since it was first published there in 2014.  Author Mioara Grigore describes how, as a self-absorbed religion teacher with thoughts of becoming a nun, she began an unlikely courtship with an atheistic math teacher.  The math teacher found faith, the two were happily married, and within six and a half years five children were born to them, one with Down syndrome.  Mioara's life was full, her home brimming with love. Then came the devastating cancer diagnosis.

With unflinching honesty, a keen eye for detail, and endearing humor, Mioara recounts her intense struggle with cancer.  With the help of her husband and children, of her spiritual father, and then of new friends who sacrificed themselves for her and her family, she turned that struggle into a journey of spiritual self-discovery.  In the agony of her cross-bearing, she found what it means, at the deepest level, to love and be loved by others and by God.  Ultimately, hers is a story not only of growth but of indomitable joy and triumph.