Krista Bennett-Bruns, author of “Living Beneath the Surface: My Journey through Love, Loss, and Forgiveness.”  Courtesy of Krista Bennett-Bruns

Alumna Krista Bennett-Bruns encourages readers to see people’s interior issues in “Living Beneath the Surface: My Journey through Love, Loss, and Forgiveness.”

Bennett-Bruns has seen a lot of heartache in her years through hiding her cancer and the loss of her youngest son, Sutton. In the midst of all this, she turned to Christ and writing to help herself.

One of Bennett-Bruns’ close friends Britta Wilson, an alumna, explained a part of Bennett-Bruns’ journey of becoming an author.

“She’s been feeling it for a really long time,” said Wilson. “Years ago, she had a calling like she felt like she was being called to write a book. Then she ended up losing a child and after that is whenever she really felt pushed very strongly towards this book.” 

According to Wilson, the book is about not judging people without knowing what may lie underneath the surface.

“There’s a lot more that goes on in the inside that they don’t show to everybody on the outside,” said Wilson. “So, you need to take a step back before you are quick to judge somebody, and think about what they may have going on in the inside that they’re not letting people in on.”

Bennett-Bruns explained that her book delves into how her medical issues and tragedies led to a period of reflection for her. She believes that this contributed to the realization that everyone puts on a mask to show the world a better version of themselves despite their internal struggles and needs.

“When you look beneath the surface, we’re all the same,” said Bennett-Bruns. “It doesn’t matter what gender we are, no matter what religion we are, no matter what political party we have affiliated ourselves with, we all have the same needs and wants under the surface.”

Bennett-Bruns began her journey as a writer in 2012 during her chemotherapy sessions in the hospital for her breast cancer and continued her journey after chemotherapy by going to friends’ houses to write in silence. She finished her book in the winter of 2017 and made a few edits before its release in February 2018.

Bennett-Bruns refers to herself as an undercover cancer patient. She had a wig professionally made to hide her hair loss during her chemotherapy so people would not view her differently. She only let a few people in her inner circle know about her cancer.  

“I sat in the chemo room and started kind of writing, and it was basically me as a business owner, as a mom trying to just put my mask on and make it,” said Bennett-Bruns.