Where do we turn when all we know and understand is, stolen from our lives? Some have turned to family, friends, or jobs as the source of healing after tragedy. Others prefer alcohol, drugs or other abusive behaviors that promise to hide the pain in our traumatized lives. Following these paths, we enter into lives of denial. Insisting that all is ok, we push ourselves to keep moving forward. In His mercy, these paths will prove fruitless thus forcing us to dig deeper and seek harder for better sources of recovery. Trauma in our lives has the ability to turn our hearts into burnt out buildings where no life can exist. In our human attempts to deal with the pain, we become self-focused and self-worshipping. Terms such as "the human spirit" and the "decency of man" become familiar but false gods that we turn to in hopes of change. This book takes the reader on a journey through one family's exodus from tragedy and trauma into life. It does not present the reader with the perfect way to walk this path nor does it provide a "how to" recipe for success. The author has willingly opened up her heart to a sincere picture of what it was like for her and her family to live in the wilderness of fear, anger and neglect. She describes candidly the effects of her own traumatized heart on her husband and children as well as the often difficult and imperfect journey to real healing love in Jesus Christ. Theirs is not a story of religion but a story of truth that penetrates social, economic and religious traditions with His penetrating light of love. It is a book, that asks of the reader to be as honest and sincere with the hope that in allowing Christ to switch our own story line we too might find what we have been looking for. Those who love the prophetic gifts, spiritual maps and a few great pictures of a family who found real joy in Jesus will find this book to be worthwhile. It will challenge and affirm, question and warn, but ultimately the story it tells will offer hope in the wilderness.
