Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

memoir

A ‘forgotten’ genocide and faith that withstands: Review of Intended for Evil by Less Sillars

What I know about Cambodia probably wouldn’t even fill a single page of a notebook. But some of my favorite things are made there by women earning a fair wage and people I care about care about Cambodia and its people and travel there to make the world a little better.

So, this book caught my attention because of its focus on the tragic period of Cambodia’s history when millions of people were killed in a genocide that doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention. Intended For Evil is the story of one man’s survival of these events and how his faith in God sustained him through it. (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher, which in no way affects my opinion.)

That’s oversimplifying it, though. Radha Manickam has as much doubt as faith as he watches family members die and the life he knew is destroyed. He wonders how God can permit such evil, why he’s allowed to survive in the midst of so much death, and what hope he could possibly have for the future. This is no sappy God-is-in-control cliche but a realistic account of what it means to follow God wherever you find yourself.

Besides Radha’s personal experiences, the book is full of historical and political background, which at times felt a bit difficult to wade through. But for someone with zero knowledge of this time period, it’s helpful background and context.

The events in this book may have happened decades ago, but it’s relevant to world events today. What happened in Cambodia in the 1970s is happening in other parts of the world today, and someday we’ll read survivors’ stories of those atrocities.

If we’re not going to forget history, we need books like this one.

 

 

A true story of true love: Review of Hope Heals by Katherine and Jay Wolf

Katherine and Jay Wolf have the kind of story you wouldn’t wish on anybody, but through the unthinkable, they have found–and clung to–hope.

They were just 26, with a 6-month-old in the house, married only a few years when Katherine suffered a massive brain stem stroke. Her odds of surviving surgery were low, but survive, she did, and though it would be a long road of recovery and loss and acceptance of how life would be, her story is nothing short of miraculous.

hope healsIn Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and an Overcoming Love, the Wolfs share openly about the dreams that died with the stroke and about the hard days of learning to do basic skills again. Particularly moving is Katherine’s desperation to eat food again and the work it took for her to pass a swallowing test, as well as her realization that she couldn’t feed her baby or take care of him. (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my review.)

Theirs is no sugar-coated hope. It is gritty and gut-wrenching. They have wrestled with God about the course of their lives and found that He is still good and their suffering is not meaningless.

Katherine writes:

When we share our stories in real and messy ways, we give people permission to do the same, and in the sharing, we release some of the things that keep us trapped in our own isolated hotel rooms. We remember we are not alone. And that brings hope. (p.195)

Grab a box of tissues before you pick up this book, but whatever you do, read it and discover that hope can be found in what seems like the most hopeless of circumstances.