CelebrateLit

About the Book:

Book: Shackled

Author: Mariam Ibraheem

Genre: Religion/Inspirational

Release date: March 8, 2022

Sentenced to Death for Her Beliefs

Mariam Ibraheem was finally rising above her difficult childhood and building a new life for herself. Born to a Muslim father and an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian mother, she grew up in poverty in a refugee camp in Sudan. Her father left the family when she was only six, and her mother raised her in the Christian faith. Left without family after the deaths of her beloved mother and sister, she was beginning to move past her grief—earning a medical degree, marrying the man she loved, and having a baby boy.

But one day in late 2013, her world was shattered when an unknown relative on her father’s side reported her to the police. The authorities insisted she was Muslim because of her father’s background. She had broken the law by marrying a Christian man, and she must renounce her Christian beliefs and abandon her marriage and her son. Under intense pressure, Mariam repeatedly refused to deny her faith. She was charged with apostasy and adultery, and she was imprisoned with her nine-month-old, Martin, on Christmas Eve. There, awaiting sentence, she learned she was pregnant with her second child. A few months later, Mariam was sentenced to 100 lashes and death by hanging by a Sharia court.

Shackled is the stunning true story of a courageous young mother who was willing to face death rather than deny her Christian faith. Mariam Ibraheem took a stand on behalf of all people who suffer from religious persecution and all women who are maltreated because of their gender and beliefs.

Follow Mariam’s story from refugee camp to life under Islamic law, through imprisonment and childbirth while shackled, to her remarkable escape from death following an international outcry and advocacy involving diplomats, journalists, religious freedom activists, human rights groups, and even Pope Francis.

My Thoughts:

I was a bit hesitant about signing up for Shackled. I could tell by reading the synopsis that it would be a challenging read. I do not enjoy reading about people being abused, and people hurting each other. At the same time though, it sounded like it would be an encouraging story about showing how God’s truth and love triumph over evil. I was right on both counts.

What a story. There are two things that really stood out to me in this book. One, of course, was the physical abuse. Being circumcised as a young girl, the horrible things her father did to her mother before leaving the family when Mariam was only six, the way she was treated in prison, and the abuse she suffered while giving birth. On the other side,  was the contrast she felt between Islam and Christianity. Though Muslims claimed to have a religion of mercy, she only felt love while with Christians. That love was so real to her that she never considered denying Jesus. I was also touched by her experiences with Jesus while in prison.  This is an absolutely amazing story of a courageous woman, who stood up against all odds to maintain her faith in Jesus and protect her children. If you’ve ever been even a little bit curious about the difference between Christianity and Islam, read Shackled. Mariam lived with that contrast.

There is so much more I could say about this book. It has left quite an impression on me. All I can say, though, is read it for yourself. Don’t miss this one. Your faith will be challenged and strengthened. A quote that stood out to me, to wrap up this review: “The friends of Sudanese suffer as much as their enemies because hate cannot be confined to one person or one people group. Once it is allowed to live, fester and grow, it lashes out at everyone and everything.”

WARNING: Mariam’s father’s abuse of his wife in chapter 6. Vivid description of female circumcision in chapter 8. Physical abuse in chapter 47. There is more; these are the ones that were hardest to read about.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them. If you buy this book, please put a review on Amazon. There are no reviews there, and I am not allowed to post one.

About the Author:

In 2014, Mariam Ibraheem of Sudan was sentenced by a Sharia court to 100 lashes for adultery because she had married a Christian man, and death by hanging for refusing to renounce her Christian faith and follow Islam. Mariam was imprisoned with her young son while she was pregnant with her second child, a daughter, to whom she gave birth while still shackled in the prison. After an international outcry, Mariam was eventually freed through the help of Pope Francis, the United States, Italy, and the embassies of various other governments. Today, Mariam advocates on behalf of others who are victims of religious persecution and also for women who suffer from the personal prison of abuse. She is the cofounder and director of global mobilization for the Tahrir Alnisa (“Setting Women Free”) Foundation, which serves women and children impacted by domestic abuse and religious-motivated violence. She also serves on the board of directors for Anti-Trafficking International.

Eugene Bach is a pseudonym for a member of the Chinese underground church who, for security reasons, does not wish to be identified. He has been working with the underground church in China for twenty years, helping them to establish forward missions bases in closed countries around the world, including Iraq and Syria. Eugene leads the Chinese missions movement Back to Jerusalem, which provides essential support for Chinese missionaries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and he has written books about the underground church in China, North Korea, and Iran. His books with Whitaker House include China and End-Time Prophecy; I Stand with Christ; ISIS: The Heart of Terror; Kidnapped by a Cult; Leaving Buddha; Smuggling Light; and The Underground Church.

More from Mariam:

Shackled is the stunning true story of a courageous young mother whose plight led to international outcry on her behalf. Mariam Ibraheem was willing to face death rather than deny her Christian faith, taking a stand on behalf of all people who suffer from religious persecution and all women who are maltreated because of their gender and beliefs.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

About the Book:

Book: Turtle Heart

Author: Lucinda J. Kinsinger

Genre: Memoir

Release date: February 22, 2022

What happens when a sheltered young Mennonite befriends an ornery old Ojibwe woman in order to lead her to Christ—and finds that old woman has more to teach her about God and humanity than she ever dreamed? These two women from widely differing cultures and belief systems soon build a connection that runs deeper than their differences. Kinsinger’s memoir of friendship reads like a novel, at once riveting and introspective, timeless and surprising.

Turtle Heart invites you into the world and perspective of a young Mennonite woman who allows love to lead her beyond her comfort zone into uncharted territory.

My Thoughts:

When I saw the cover of Turtle Heart I was immediately intrigued. A Mennonite woman and someone else who was obviously not Mennonite juxtaposed in one picture. Reading the description only made me more intrigued, and I knew I wanted to read this book for sure. I was not disappointed.

Several days after finishing reading this book, I’m still thinking about it. There is so much depth in the book, that it takes awhile to process it. Having come from a background similar to the author’s, I could identify with her attitudes about salvation. It was amazing to see how God worked to open her mind to the way He works in various people‘s lives, with no two people having the same experience. The author is very real about her struggles with being a friend to Charlene.

It was fascinating to see the two cultures interacting. The author’s and Charlene’s cultures were extremely different, as were their upbringings and life experiences. Even so, their spirits connected and they learned to love each other and were very real and vulnerable with each other. This is an amazing story. I recommend it for mature readers, because of some of the content, but it is one that most Christians should read, to get a different perspective on the way God works in people‘s lives.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

Lucinda J Kinsinger has always viewed herself as a shy little Mennonite girl but refuses to let that stop her from pursuing what she loves—whether that’s writing with honesty and vulnerability or traveling to a remote village in China. She is the author of two memoirs—Turtle Heart: Unlikely Friends with a Life Changing Bond and Anything But Simple: My Life as a Mennonite, as well as a children’s book, The Arrowhead.  She writes a column for Anabaptist World Review and blogs at lucindajkinsinger.com. Lucinda lives with her farmer husband Ivan and her baby daughter Annalise in the rolling hills of Oakland, Maryland.

More from Lucinda:

I Met an Old Lady

On a foggy morning one early March, I met a tiny woman encased in a puffy tan coat. I loved her from the moment I saw her—the tiny, intense perfection of her, the way her glasses sat sharp and clean on her face, the bright look of her slanted eyes, and the way all her wrinkles massed upward when she smiled. She was Ojibwe. Her name was Charlene.

At that time, I drove for a company called Indianhead Transit and had been assigned to take Charlene to her dialysis appointment. I helped her to my car, my steps excruciatingly slow to match hers, got into the driver’s seat, and backed into the foggy street. “The Ojibwe have a saying about the fog,” Charlene said. “They say, ‘The Creator sent the clouds to earth.’”

We talked a lot about God that dialysis trip. “I am amazed at how He made everything on earth round,” she told me. “The leaves are round, the drops of water are round, the scales on a fish are round, and even the little blades of grass, when they first come up, are curled into a ball. It just makes me love Him so much.” There was wonder in her voice, joy in her eyes.

I asked her if she believed in Jesus. She considered a moment. “Yes, the Ojibwe have taken the Creator’s Son, Jesus.” But when I mentioned the Bible, she snapped, “The Bible is just a white man’s book!”

I wondered how she could believe in Jesus while not believing in the Book that taught about Him.

As I got to know Charlene better, I found her a study in contrasts.

She would coo at her little dog in the sappiest, drippiest form of baby talk possible, and fifteen minutes later when the dog displeased her, would yell so harshly it would streak for its crate, her hand raised threateningly behind it.

She was the sharpest, meanest little lady I ever knew, with a perverse sense of humor and a penchant for original slams. “I dig your shoes!” she crowed to a Croc-shod woman once. “Dig a hole and bury them,” she muttered as the woman passed.

She was the most loyal and loving lady I ever knew, a lover of beauty, lover of God. She went hunting only once and when she had the opportunity to shoot a buck, couldn’t do it—the buck was just too beautiful, she told me.

She held a vehement dislike of Black people and spoke so disrespectfully of them I grew angry. Then she turned around and voted for Obama in national elections.

By that time, I realized that with Charlene, you had two choices: you could let her drive you mad, or you could accept her. I chose to accept her.

She also chose to accept me.

She understood what it was to be Mennonite and different. After all, she had grown up Ojibwe and different. She didn’t ask, like others might, if I got cold in the winter because I didn’t wear pants or why I couldn’t go to the fair. She accepted my oddities as a matter of course.

“People have to label everything. Whether Mennonite or half-breed, they label you and that’s what you are to them,” she said to me one day. “But our friendship doesn’t have to fit a label.”

Fit a label our friendship did not.

We were different in almost every way—one young and one old, one shy and one feisty, one sheltered and one who had experienced the harshness of life. And yet in the middle was a spot we connected, where we shared nerve and muscle and bone like conjoined twins.

She dispelled multiple prejudices of mine—yes, I also carried them—and taught me to see that people are people wherever you find them, taught me I could understand and be understood by someone from a very different background.

Charlene did eventually read the Bible I gave her and grew in faith as a result.

I also grew. She, with her fresh eyes and unboxed faith, strengthened and deepened my own faith as few people have. I learned from her to see God in the small, everyday things of life that even a child can understand—things like fog and blades of grass and water at the kitchen sink.

I wrote a book about our friendship. The book is called Turtle Heart: Unlikely Friends with a Life-Changing Bond and came out recently with Elk Lake Publishing. It is available on Amazon.

To purchase your copy, click here.

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About the Book:

Book: When Dignity Came to Harlan

Author: Rebecca Duvall Scott

Genre: Christian Historical Fiction

Release date: January 17, 2021

I made up my mind right then and there that I would just have to wade into this move like wading into a pond or lake I’d never seen before – slow and steady, feeling around for my footing and trying to avoid the sharp edges at the bottom that you never see coming.

***

News of what really happened to me – to us – spread through town like wildfire. It caught from one dry gossip tree to another and burned them to the ground with shame.

***

“Y’can do this, child – show ’em why I call y’Dignity,” my old friend winked at me.                

Skillfully written and sure to draw you in to its pages, When Dignity Came to Harlan is set in the early 1900s and follows twelve-year-old Anna Beth Atwood as she leaves Missouri with her family dreaming of a better life in the coal-rich mountains of Harlan County, Kentucky. Anna Beth’s parents lose everything on the trip, however, and upon asking strangers to take their girls in until they get on their feet, Anna Beth and her baby sister are dropped into the home of Jack and Grace Grainger – who have plenty of problems of their own. Anna Beth suffers several hardships during her time in Harlan, and if it wasn’t for her humble and wise old friend who peddles his wisdom along with his wares, all would be lost.

Based on a true family history, this is a story of heartbreak and hope, challenges and perseverance, good and evil, justice and merciful redemption. It exemplifies the human experience in all its many facets and shows what it means to have real grit.

Take the journey with us and see how, with the unseen hand of God, one girl changed the heart and soul of an entire town.

My Thoughts:

When I’m looking at books available for review any book that is not straight up romance will catch my eye. When Dignity Came to Harlem sounded quite interesting and very different. The fact that it was based on a true story was also appealing; that is my favourite type of fiction. The description sounded like a book I would really enjoy so I requested it. When I got into it, I wasn’t sure I would actually like it, though. For the first several chapters I only kept reading because I had agreed to read and review it. I struggled with the dialect that was written out all the time; that’s just not my style of book. However, by the time I was about halfway through I could hardly stop thinking about this book. Most of the time I have less than five minutes at a time to read, and then I have to put the book down and get back to whatever it is it needs done. Most of the time I have no trouble doing that. But this book however, was a lot harder to do that with than most books. I really could not tell which way the story was going to go and I just had to find out what happened to Anna Beth.

Every emotion imaginable is present in the story. Love, sadness, despair, hope, peace and joy—I felt all of those with Anna Beth as I read When Dignity Came to Harlem. Even though she experienced severe misstreatment, she also experienced deep love. Don’t pick this book up if you want romance. It isn’t there. If, however, you like to read books about how people can overcome trials victoriously with God’s help this is a book for you. I enjoyed learning, at the back of the book, what was true and what was fiction in the story. This author has done a great job of taking stories from her grandmother’s life and weaving them together into this book. For awhile, I was sure I would not like this book, but I changed my mind.

WARNING: A rape is described in chapter 14, and a beating in chapter 17. Chapter 1: Darn it. Chapter 4: gee, chewed the heck out of it. Chapter 10: try so darn hard.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

Rebecca Duvall Scott is an award-winning author with titles holding #1 bestseller within her publishing companies long after release. Her first work was self-help memoir, Sensational Kids, Sensational Families: Hope for Sensory Processing Differences, which she wrote in the years following her son’s sensory processing disorder diagnosis and their family’s successful treatment plan. While her special-needs advocacy helping parents, teachers, and professionals better understand individuals with SPD has a large part of her heart, her roots have always been in historical fiction. Her long-awaited Christian historical fiction novel, When Dignity Came to Harlan, was based on her great-grandmother’s childhood, and Teaching Dignity continues the tender and heroic story. She looks forward to writing more in both the Dignity and Sensational Kids series.

In addition to writing, Rebecca enjoys family, church, educating her children at home, painting, and directing a local homeschool cooperative organization where she works hard to accommodate all special needs.

More from Rebecca:

From the time I was a little girl, my grandmother would gather me around her kitchen table – usually with homemade peach pies – and tell me stories of our forebears. I found the experiences of those who came before me to be both tragic and joyful, but most of all I found them worthy of being told and never forgotten. When I was 16, I started taking notes on everything my grandmother could remember about her mother (one of the humblest and most heroic of my ancestors) and as a senior in college, I turned in the first 70 pages of the manuscript based on her childhood, When Dignity Came to Harlan. I’ll never forget how on graduation day, my creative writing teacher shook my hand and said, “Rebecca, please finish the story.” It took years to finish my debut novel… I think because I had to grow up and develop a deep enough emotional well to do it justice… but finish the story I did. Little did I know, however, this bestselling and award-winning book, the one I was always meant to write, would be the starter of a new, yet powerfully old-fashioned, Christian historical fiction series!

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

About the Book:

Book: Free At Last

Author: Marcel Becker, with W.A. Fulkerson

Genre: Memoir/Inspirational

Release date: July 2, 2021

Abused and isolated, Marcel Becker ended up on his own at the age of 15, and his descent into the cycle of addiction, crime, and incarceration followed the typical pattern. He became, in his own words, a “prolific offender” – an outlaw biker, a criminal mastermind, and the sole target of a multi-agency federal task force. When Marcel received custody of his children, however, he knew he had to make a change or the consequences would fall on them. Breaking out of his old life was full of struggle, uncertainty, and setbacks, but it proves that anyone who is willing can find true freedom and escape the dark cloud of the ex-con.

A United States Congressman once called Marcel’s life a story “of redemption and triumph,” and so it is.

My Thoughts:

I always enjoy a good memoir. It’s interesting to read what a person wants to tell about his or her own life, and what he or she emphasizes. When I see a memoir offered for review, I often take a second look at it. Free at Last sounded like a very interesting story, so I signed up for it.

Marcel grew up “on the wrong side of the tracks.” His father suffered from PTSD and took it out on his younger son, who found himself continually being beaten for no real reason. Though his mother loved him, Marcel left home as soon as he could find a way, and quickly became involved in a life of crime and drugs. Going into and out of prison was soon a way of life for him, and eventually the FBI sent a whole task force after him. Then one day, two of Marcel’s children were dumped on him by their mother. What was he to do now?

Marcel’s life changed nearly overnight, when he became responsible for two frightened children. He knew he did not want them to have the same kind of life he had always had; what should he do now? He began looking for honest work, and soon found he had to start at the bottom. He clawed his way to the top—only to find it didn’t satisfy.

I’ll have to say, I didn’t enjoy the first 33% or so of Free at Last. It is not fun to read about crime and prison life and beating people up and getting beaten up. Marcel did not go into too much graphic detail, though, so it wasn’t too bad. I appreciated seeing him become an honest working man and making good in business, but by the time I reached 78% through the book I was starting to wonder if this was really a Christian book! I’m glad to say that the change in Marcel’s life, and the candor with which he describes his Christian walk and the church challenges he faced, are inspiring. At one point, he says, “I stopped going to church. And in retrospect, that turned out to be a very, very bad decision.” I would say that if anyone had a good reason for quitting church, he did—and yet after a time he saw the need of fellowship.

Here are a few more quotes that stood out to me:

But to say that I struggled is to say that I was alive and kicking. You only struggle when you’re fighting against something.

Let me tell you something; freedom isn’t just roaming around doing whatever you want to.

And when you’re trying to do the right thing, that’s a breath of fresh air because you don’t have anything to hide.

If you are interested in hearing a man candidly telling about his life, the good and the bad, the struggles, the failures and the triumphs, read Free at Last. This book is inspiring. When I first started reading it, I wasn’t sure I would like it at all; I mentally prepared myself to struggle through it. It turned out to be very interesting, though, and a fairly quick read for me.

WARNING: Chapter 11—beating up a prison guard. Heck and dang and hell are used occasionally throughout the book.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

Marcel Becker is a businessman, a designated community leader, and a motivational speaker. Once a five-time offender, Marcel turned his life around over twenty years ago, and since then has served on innumerable boards, political campaigns, and civil causes, finding great success in all of his endeavors. He is currently the Vice President of Propulsion Controls Engineering, a Job Force Motivational Speaker, has received several certificates of congressional recognition, has had two resolutions introduced in the California Legislature honoring his service to the community, and received a “Hero” award from California State Senator Joel Anderson for his efforts with the Second Chance Program.

Marcel shares stories of his life before and after taking the high road to success in order to encourage others to be the best they can be. He lives in San Diego, California.

More from W. A.:

If Marcel Becker sat down next to you in a coffee shop today, you would assume him to be a respectable, mild-mannered business man, and you would be right. What you would not think is, “I bet that guy has done time – and a LOT of it.”

And yet, he has. Marcel Becker was one of the most notorious criminals to come up from his neighborhood of Oceanside, CA during the eighties and nineties, when his activities landed him behind bars on federal charges five times. His activities also earned him a lot of scars, plenty of fear and admiration among the criminal class, and admission into one of the most dangerous biker gangs in the country. He’s done eighteen months of solitary confinement in a single stretch, been labeled a flight risk and an extremely dangerous martial arts expert, and the government tried to use his rival gang to illegally execute him. His nickname on the streets and throughout police precincts and prisons?

Flash. Because if you mess with him, he’ll knock you out immediately.

When Marcel talks about his past (and shows the newspaper articles to prove it), the experience is quite a rollercoaster ride.

To make a long and fascinating story short, at the height of his life of crime, Marcel became responsible for his two children, and he had to make a change fast. He started at the bottom as a grunt laborer on the docks, and eventually he rose through the ranks to become a majority owner of a ship repair company and a serial entrepreneur. Today, he is a titan of industry, a civil servant, a friend to mayors and senators, and a living testimony that anyone can turn their life around.

When I’ve expressed regret for a boneheaded decision I’ve made and some wasted time, Marcel reminds me that he spent his youth in and out of prison. If he focused on how terrible his mistakes were, he would never have done anything else. The message is, ‘If I can get past my mistakes, so can you. Move forward, hombre.’  I could give example after example like this – knowing Marcel is a real blessing, and he offers more than just interesting stories. He offers hope and encouragement, a reminder of God’s grace and the masterful plan of redemption awaiting us all if we will only turn to it.

You wouldn’t think that this man sitting next to you at a coffee shop was once tormented by an abusive upbringing, a brilliant master of crime, and public enemy number one.

But that’s sort of the point, isn’t it?

• W.A. Fulkerson, Co-Author of Marcel Becker’s memoir Free at Last: Trading a Life of Crime for Family, Faith, and Success in Business

To purchase your copy, click here.

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About the Book:

Book: Live the Impossible

Author: Jenny Smith

Genre: Memoir

Release date: July, 2021

Jenny Smith was a typical teenager—a gymnast and athlete who loved hair and makeup, played in a band, and was active in her church youth group.

Then one bright summer morning, a spinal cord injury left her paralyzed from the chest down and dependent on others for her most basic needs. Privacy and independence seemed like things of the past.

But Jenny refused to give up or give in to her disability, and over time she discovered that a wheelchair could take her places she’d never dared to imagine. She’s traveled multiple times to Afghanistan and Mexico for wheelchair distributions and sports camps, and even rolled the New York City runway as a model during Fashion Week.

Today, Jenny Smith is a spokesperson for independent and vibrant living with a disability. Her speeches, articles, and social media presence have touched thousands of lives.

In Live the Impossible, Smith shares what it looks like to live with paralysis, from the everyday details most people never think about, to the countless people who have impacted her life along the way. With honesty and humor, faith and fortitude, Jenny shows us how we can all live the impossible, even when life doesn’t go as planned.

My Thoughts:

Approximately 35 years ago, we heard the startling news that a friend from another state, the father of eight young children, had been in a car accident, had broken his back, and would never walk again. We often crossed paths with him and his family, and it was always inspiring to see his smile and hear his cheerful laugh. I remember one day, probably 5-10 years after the accident, when a very old lady in our church was commiserating with this man about how terrible it was that he was now confined to a wheelchair. I’ll never forget his response. He exclaimed, “It was the best thing that ever happened to me!” That was the feeling I got from Jenny Smith throughout her story in Live the Impossible. She didn’t feel that way at first, and I’m not sure she would actually say that now, but she certainly sees what she has gained through her disability.

Live the Impossible is a very inspiring story. I really appreciated Jenny’s attitude about counting her blessings, and praising God for everything possible. Her acceptance of what God was doing in her life, though she allowed herself to grieve her losses, is something we can all learn from and put into practice in our own lives. I also learned a lot from this book about life as a quadriplegic. Jenny is very frank about the challenges she faces, and how she copes.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

Jenny Smith is an advocate, peer mentor, and encourager for those living with spinal cord injuries, and anyone who has faced unexpected or seemingly impossible challenges. Her popular blog and YouTube channel, Jenny Smith Rolls On, explore the practical aspects of life as a quadriplegic. She also speaks to associations and businesses, schools and universities, and faith-based groups. Jenny works full-time supporting and encouraging cross-cultural workers. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where she rows on the Ohio River with the Louisville Adaptive Rowing program.

You can find out more at www.jennysmithrollson.com.

More from Jenny:

“I will never write a book.”

I can’t tell you how many times I said those words. How and why did I publish a book after saying I will never so many times?

For several years, I was writing as a side job for a medical supply company. To learn more about the craft of writing, I signed up for an online class. The instructor invited me to take her next class on writing your life story.

That’s when it happened. I felt a little tap on my shoulder and heard—or felt—the words, “It’s time.”

I groaned.

Since my spinal cord injury at the age of 16, I said never and that’s impossible innumerable times. I had said the words before traveling to Mexico and Afghanistan. As I dreamed of living independently as a quadriplegic. I’d said never to playing wheelchair tennis, rugby, and para-rowing. My words that’s impossible and never were proved wrong time and again.

So I started writing.

It turns out I’ve lived what I believed was impossible.

In July 2021, on the 32nd anniversary of my spinal cord injury, my family, friends, and community celebrated with me at the launch party for my memoir Live the Impossible.

Although the book centers on my story of becoming a quadriplegic at 16 and the trials and adventures that followed, the lessons I learned in the years to come are universal:

• How I found my identity
• The importance of taking a risk
• How I became comfortable in my own body
• Acknowledging I have little to offer and yet seeing God do things I could never imagine

We all have unexpected circumstances in life. But I believe we can all live the impossible, even when life doesn’t go as planned.

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