God Gave Us Beauty From Ashes

At each attempt to make a life changing transition, the author’s family secrets would scream to come out. Her need to protect those nearest her would keep her life normal, but tormented on the inside. Her poignant portrayal of a God, who is able to bring their secrets to the healing sunlight of His grace, while loving both the victim as well as the perpetrator, is a saga no one who has been touched by sexual abuse can afford to miss. I will recommend this most helpful volume to many of my clients. —A counselor in private practice for over twenty years.

When I arrived at the prison, I had to pass through numerous locked gates on my way to the hospital. How strange and intimidating it felt to hear yet another door lock behind me as we went into the depths of the prison. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of fear as the guards took us past scummy looking men hanging out in the hallways. Finally, we came to my father’s room and I could see him through the open door. He was lying in his bed gazing at the ceiling and his face was shining! He hadn’t noticed that I had come, so I stood enraptured, wondering at the change in my Daddy’s countenance. While I was at the prison, I had a chance to talk alone with the prison doctor, and was encouraged by his comments as well. “Your dad’s story needs to be told,” he said to me. “He is truly a changed man. Other people need to know that God can change anybody, even child molesters. There are many people inside these locked doors, and outside in the world, who have lost hope that God would do anything for them. Your father’s changed life is a testimony of God’s faithfulness to any sinner who chooses to repent.”