A Good Read

  I read a very inspirational book recently that I wanted to share with you. A relative of mine first alerted me to this women's story, saying that she had seen this lady interviewed a short time earlier. When a magazine I subscribe to advertised this book, I realized that it had to be the same person my family member had been talking about. I purchased the book soon after. Once I started reading it, I could hardly put it down, finishing it in just two days. The book is called Prepared for a Purpose by Antoinette Tuff.

 It is the story of Antoinette, an elementary school staff member, who helped to avert another possible Sandy Hook situation and saved hundreds of lives in the process. But what makes her tale so riveting isn't just the suspense of how she handled the potential shooter that walked into her school one day but also her own long journey of pain that led her, ultimately to faith in God's love and forgiveness and allowed her to extend the same to the young man she feared would take her own life and the lives of others that August day. 

 I loved reading this book! It helped to not only renew my belief in God's ability to redeem the hurt of someone's past but also made me view differently the way we reach out from the pain of our own journey toward that of someone else's. At times, we may not always understand the reason why we go through certain things in life but, in time, God may reveal a bigger plan at work, a purpose we have been prepared for - one that we could not have accomplished without going through the hard times. This book really drove home to me that anyone can be used by God, sometimes even in the moments when we are hurting the most. 

 This is an amazing story of courage in the face of almost certain death and, more importantly, of God's grace in the face of great personal pain and struggle. 

* This book is available wherever books are sold and is copyrighted 2014.