Way before Mr. Superman deployed I was contacted by Jocelyn Green, the author of
Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives and co-author of
Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan. In that email she asked if I would be interested in receiving two autographed copies of
Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan in return for reading it and then posting a review on my blog the week of Veteran's Day.
I jumped at the chance.
When I began reading
Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan, I was prepared to be emotional since my own husband had just deployed to Afghanistan. What I wasn't prepared for was to get teary eyed while reading every single story. The layout of the book is different than any I had ever read before but I found it quite enjoyable. Each story is titled with a day from Day 1 all the way to Day 365. I found it nearly impossible to put down but if you're looking for a quick shot of faith and inspiration everyday but are limited with your time, the 365 day format is great.
The stories of faith, struggle, perseverance, and miracles told by not only deployed soldiers and veterans from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from PTSD, but also by parents and siblings of soldiers, chaplains, military wives, and widows were touching and full of conviction. Being able to read first hand accounts helped to give me a bit of peace and comfort knowing that so many other people have done what my husband is doing and they all came out stronger for it. Also being able to read accounts from missionaries to the Middle East and organizers of humanitarian efforts in addition to every other perspective that was offered, made the reading diverse and interesting in the sense of being able to see everything from several different perspectives.
I loved this book and would definitely recommend it to not only soldiers and their family members but to anyone. It obviously focuses on stories from people who have been a part of and witnessed war in one way or another but the strength and blinding faith that is offered in each story would be beneficial to anybody. What I found the most inspiring were the stories told by people who had previously not known God or had lost their faith somewhere in their life and the rediscovery and eye opening knowledge that God was very aware of them and their situation, is what gave me chills and made my heart burn with my own personal love and conviction of God and His goodness.
Now for those of you Lovelies who were paying attention and noticed that I said Jocelyn Green offered me
TWO autographed copies of this fabulous book, its about to pay off. I am obviously keeping one but the other is going to be up for grabs! That's right, its giveaway time again. It's going to be simple. Leave a comment telling me why you want this book and you're entered! Short and sweet right? Also be sure to check out the links at the beginning of this because both of her books are fabulous and the website is phenomenally rich in its resources. Pass along the word too! Anyone is eligible for this giveaway and it closes on November 13th at Midnight PST.
