Download or read book Full of Heart written by J.R. Martinez and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inspirational journey from tragedy to triumph In 2003, nineteen-year-old Private J.R. Martinez was on a routine patrol when the Humvee he was driving hit an antitank mine in Iraq, resulting in severe injuries and burns on his face and more than one-third of his body. Out of that tragedy came an improbable journey of inspiration, motivation, and dreams come true. In Full of Heart, Martinez shares his story in intimate detail, from his upbringing in the American South and his time in the Army to his recovery and the indomitable spirit that has made him an inspiration to countless fans. J.R. Martinez always had a strong spirit. Raised in Bossier City, Louisiana, and then Hope, Arkansas, by a single mother from El Salvador, he was well known at school for his good looks and his smart mouth. At seventeen, showing an early determination and drive that would become one of his trademark qualities, J.R. convinced his mom to move to Dalton, Georgia, where he believed he would have a better chance of being recruited to play college football. His positive attitude earned him a spot on a competitive high school football squad, but when his college dreams collapsed, he turned to the U.S. Army. A few months later, he found himself serving in Iraq. When J.R.'s humvee hit a mine and exploded -- just one month into his deployment—he was immediately evacuated to a San Antonio medical center, where he spent the next thirty-four months in grueling recovery. Seeing his disfigured face for the first time after the accident threw him into a crushing period of confusion and anger. His spirits were low, until he was asked to speak to another young burn victim. J.R. realized how valuable and gratifying it was to share his experiences with other patients and listen to theirs. He’d found a calling. His fellow soldiers, along with the local and then national media, soon latched onto J.R.’s spirit and strength. His resilience, optimism, and charm were also noted by Hollywood and scored him roles on All My Children and Dancing with the Stars, where he was the season thirteen champion. Today, J.R. tours the country sharing his story and his lessons for overcoming challenges and embracing hope, lessons that abound in this book. Full of Heart is an unforgettable story of a man who never gave up on his dreams. After being injured in Iraq, J.R. Martinez became a motivational speaker, actor, and winner of season thirteen of Dancing with the Stars. Martinez lives in Los Angeles

Download or read book Arise and Call Her Blessed A Daughter s Memoir written by C. D. Collins and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2017-03-29 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than just a simple chronology of dates and facts, this touching biography about the author's beloved mother, Kakki, captures both her spirit and her heart and demonstrates how any person is really an extraordinary person. It presents a lively account of a warmly human woman living an ordinary life with its good times and bad times and dealing with whatever life gives her. These remarkable stories span five decades of life shared by mother and daughter. The retelling of the mother/daughter role reversal that occurred after Kakki's manifestation of Alzheimer's is handled with grace and dignity. A woman with both a strong moral compass and firm Christian beliefs, Kakki leaves an incredible legacy for her child. A fluid and natural storyteller, C.D. Collins shares what she has learned about the human heart and its resilience in this unique memoir of a well-loved mother, whose example made a strong case for motherhood being the highest calling of all.

Download or read book How My Mother Became My Guardian Angel written by Brenda Jenkins and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011-01-27 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How my mother became my guardian angel is a bookbased on my life after losing my beautiful mother. I was 18 years old with an 8 month old baby not knowing where I was going to go. My life then became a huge struggle; I became homeless, physically and mentally abused. I started screaming and crying for my mother which took me into a dark grieving depression. The only person that took me out of that stage is the person I walk with everyday. His name is Jesus Christ a friend of mine who came and saved me in my darkest days. How my mother became my guardian angel is only the beginning of my brightest and beautiful days. My mother was such a strong beautiful black WOMAN whom GOD made with his delicate hands. After we all had lost our mother my family came to an ugly end. During my struggles and all my pain; I reached up and grabbed a hold of GOD's hand, but one thing our heavenly father did for me is brought my mother in my dreams over and over again. The sun was so pretty and bright the way she came into my life, but when I opened my eyes and saw the daylight it was time to put up my biggest fights. She helped me get through so many struggles and away from people that weren't right in my life. At first when I started dreaming of her I woke up saying, "Something isn't right." Until the day came when I noticed my dreams were only here to strengthen me throughout my life. My mother always told us that she wasn't going to be here forever, but before she leaves this place she wished we would all get it together. I was so young growing up listening to her repeat those words over and over, but one thing I did not know is how her death was the beginning of my deepest darkest struggles. So as you read my story, do yourself a favor and go put on your favorite robe, because once your done reading my story your worries should become very old. I'm dedicating this book to my mother because she could've gone upstairs to heaven and said my job on earth isfinally done. However, as a result of my struggles and screaming her name in pain, she came back in my life to help guide me until my strength I finally regained. I remember one dream I had with her, she was walking on grass sounding like glass "click, click, click", she was waving her hand and smiling at me telling me to tell everyone. I couldn't figure out that dream to save my life! However, after writing this book, now I can say; consider it a job well done!

Download or read book Every Day Spirit written by Mary Davis and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2024-09-03 with total page 794 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this uplifting and transformational book, spiritual teacher Mary Davis shares daily reflections, inspiring quotes, practices, prayers and meditations that fill your heart with encouragement, joy and inner peace. With a page for each day of the year, this gentle book will become a companion and a wise teacher that takes you on a spiritual journey of finding joy and gratitude in simple things, peace and comfort even in the midst of chaos, and a deeper love for others through kindness, compassion and service. Written during a year of solitude in the isolation of a cabin, Mary's poetic gift with words, loving guidance, humor and heart will feed your soul and have you looking forward to each day's reading. Every Day Spirit is packed with spiritual wisdom, making it a road map to a more meaningful and fulfilling life – and a reminder to slow down and notice the blessings. It's the perfect gift for yourself...and anyone in need of inspiration, hope, comfort and wisdom.

Download or read book Mom Meets Her Maker written by James Yaffe and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1990 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Symphony of Redemption written by L. Leah Phoenix and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2015-08-13 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the age of twenty-five, L. Leah Phoenix was ready to give up on life, but it was not meant to be. Now, with warmth, unflinching honesty, and humor, she tells an insightful story about the fierce determination of the human spirit. This memorable journal chronicles her challenging childhood and tumultuous twenties, when she fulfills her dream of becoming a mother. Slowly, she learns to let go of her past and appreciate life through forgiveness and understanding. Suddenly, she is faced with a catastrophic tragedy, after which she loses everything that matters to her in life. Devastated by grief, she finds herself at a crossroads. She can easily go back to her old habits, which will eventually destroy her family and her future, or she can make crucial permanent changes to claim the life she has always wanted. Tired of self-destruction and victimhood, Phoenix sets out on a journey to reinvent herself. Along the way, she explores spirituality, the meaning of unconditional love, and searches for a deeper relationship with God. Hers is a story of hope, triumph against adversity, and joy no matter what.

Download or read book Colorado Wildfire written by Cassie Miles and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2016-02-01 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HE CAME BACK A DIFFERENT MAN The last time sheriff Samantha Calloway saw her husband was hours before he'd been pulled under by rapids. It wasn't until Wade came to her rescue during a mountain ambush that she knew he was alive. His return was a painful reminder of time lost, which had left their daughter fatherless. For a year he'd worked to expose law enforcement corruption…and now cartel assassins were gunning for his family. Before, Samantha trusted no one more than Wade. If they could finish his assignment together, perhaps they'd find a fresh start. And his presence by her side sure made it hard to resist falling into old habits…

Download or read book My Guardian Angels Jack Fred written by Joseph St. Angelo and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2006-06-26 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LIKE A TREE is a collection of poetic thought and expression. Ranging from mad to sad, love and friendship, the beauty of relationships and more. LIKE A TREE is spiritual, emotional and thought provoking work. A bit of real that the reader can feel.

Download or read book AT HER ALL book 1 written by Jackie Lynaugh and published by Southern Soul Novels. This book was released on with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore a female's longing in all its complexity. AT HER ALL is the kind of escape we've all been craving—a numbing experience to an awakening. AT HER ALL is a southern mystic getaway to the Smoky Mountains through North Carolina and hide on a sandbar at the Outer Banks and hang ten with Lara Faye Edison. Fresh out of college, her life plan for the perfect career. Ambition awaits her. She's wrong! A minor problem left in Chapel Hill follows her like worn-out baggage. Namely, her college boyfriend—and his lies. Maybe it's time for her to get far away from her problems. She thinks! But what happens next is something Lara never saw coming. Her best-laid plans come undone. There's no telling what a woman will do in the name of love that turned into revenge to get her life back on track from a bottle of lies.

Download or read book Never Alone written by Jessie Brown and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I am writing this book to let people know that God loved me when I did not know he was watching over me and protecting me. The childhood that he brought me through taught me that he was always there for me even though I did not fully understand his grace and mercy. I was never alone. I was chosen by him to be his and have my life carefully preserved to share my testimonies with others how great his love is for us, and that they are never alone. My name is Jessie Brown. I was born in 1960. It was during the segregated times in the Southern part of the United States was starting to end. The unfair treatment by white people in the South was still going on. I can remember when I was in the second grade, they mixed black kids with the white kids together. My teacher was a white lady. She called out the name Jessie across the classroom. The little white girl and I would answer her at the same time. She said, I will call you little black bird, and I will call the white girl Jessie. I made up in my mind that day: I was not going to let anyone talk to me like that again. I grew up fighting and looking mad until I found out that my father in heaven loved mehis name is Jesus Christ. Now I am smiling everywhere I go, and I try to tell everyone I meet about the love of Jesus Christ.

Download or read book Doomed written by Chuck Palahniuk and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Madison Spencer, the liveliest and snarkiest dead girl in the universe, continues the afterlife adventure begun in Chuck Palahniuk’s bestseller Damned. Just as that novel brought us a brilliant Hell that only he could imagine, Doomed is a dark and twisted apocalyptic vision from this provocative storyteller. The bestselling Damned chronicled Madison’s journey across the unspeakable (and really gross) landscape of the afterlife to confront the Devil himself. But her story isn’t over yet. In a series of electronic dispatches from the Great Beyond, Doomed describes the ultimate showdown between Good and Evil. After a Halloween ritual gone awry, Madison finds herself trapped in Purgatory—or, as mortals like you and I know it, Earth. She can see and hear every detail of the world she left behind, yet she’s invisible to everyone who’s still alive. Not only do people look right through her, they walk right through her as well. The upside is that, no longer subject to physical limitations, she can pass through doors and walls. Her first stop is her parents’ luxurious apartment, where she encounters the ghost of her long-deceased grandmother. For Madison, the encounter triggers memories of the awful summer she spent upstate with Nana Minnie and her grandfather, Papadaddy. As she revisits the painful truth of what transpired over those months (including a disturbing and finally fatal meeting in a rest stop’s fetid men’s room, in which . . . well, never mind), her saga of eternal damnation takes on a new and sinister meaning. Satan has had Madison in his sights from the very beginning: through her and her narcissistic celebrity parents, he plans to engineer an era of eternal damnation. For everyone. Once again, our unconventional but plucky heroine must face her fears and gather her wits for the battle of a lifetime. Dante Alighieri, watch your back; Chuck Palahniuk is gaining on you.

Download or read book Vina A Brooklyn Memoir written by Joseph C. Polacco and published by Compass Flower Press. This book was released on 2016-10-21 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joe Polacco has written a wonderful tribute to his mother, Vina, and in the process has learned about himself. This memoir is told with humor, and is a tale of extended family in Brooklyn headed by the author's mother, the kind and big-hearted Vina. It's all about the family, the neighborhood, and most of all about Vina. She is beautiful, selfless, a creative designer and knows how to laugh and make others laugh. She is a master of Italian cuisine, admired for her original recipes, which are willingly shared. What more could anyone want in a Mom? More to the point which of us would not want to claim Vina as Mom? And all the characters in the memoir willingly testify that they love Vina and claim her as their own. The author has a love of--and knack for—foreign language and dialects. In New York City, specifically Brooklyn, the whole world can be found in this one place. And you'll find Joe Polacco and Vina in this melting pot. But be careful not to melt down as you laugh through the pages while commemorating those who have passed before, and after, Vina.

Download or read book Strings from Above written by Kirby Smith and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The words you have one year to live had an impact on author Kirby Smith and changed the way she lived her life. At the age of twenty-eight, she learned her mother, Nancy, would not survive her battle with breast cancer. In the days leading up to her mothers death, she and her family witnessed multiple spiritual events. Kirby and her family cared for her terminally ill mother until she passed away on October 13, 2012. In 2013, Kirbys sister was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. Rochelle, a young mother and registered nurse, faced her diagnosis and treatment with faith and a positive attitude that mirrored Nancys grace during her own multiple diagnoses with cancer. Rochelle and Kirbys father, Les, stood by Nancys side during their thirty-three years of marriage and led their two daughters through the grieving process. His prayers for peace and comfort were answered both during and after Nancys passing. Some of the answers to their questions came from genetic testing, proactive health care, interaction with a spiritual medium, and signs from heaven. Some of their questions remain unanswered, but Kirby and her family know they will see how all of the pieces fit together at the end of their lives. As you read Strings from Above, you will walk through the journey with Kirby and her family as they experience happiness and sorrow. In their darkest of days, God never abandoned them; He continued to guide them through lifes trials and hardships. Their mothers light continues to shine, and they have been blessed beyond measure. They have learned to embrace Gods greatest blessings, and they are excited to invite others to see His great works and His constant love through their story.

Download or read book The Veil written by Cathy Kenny and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2009-02-23 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My mother was born with an extra piece of skin on her face. The doctor removed the extra piece of skin with a pair of scissors and placed the skin in a jar. He told my grandmother that he had seen this before and called the extra piece of skin “a veil.” He then told my grandmother, Mom-mom, to sell this bottle with the extra piece of skin inside to a captain of a ship because the ship would not sink and she would be rewarded (in 1930) with money. Mom-mom did not sell the bottle with the extra piece of skin; instead, she saved it for my mother and gave it to her when she was older. I really believe that many people do not know the true significance of the veil, yet I believe in it and its importance. It is a mystery. This was an indication of the life my mom would live, as well as her true faith, which she demonstrated on a daily basis. She was, and always will be, one of a kind. I am honored to be named after her and be her first daughter. She is my hero, and I am glad that I wrote this book in memory of her.

Download or read book Beyond Cherry Mountain written by Lily Brassica and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2018-08-28 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All over the world there is poverty, and more often than not, poverty is accompanied by a feeling of hopelessness. For one impoverished young girl from North Carolina, dressed in clothes made from feed sacks and wearing shoes held together with duct tape and cardboard, this hopelessness would turn to hope thanks to a man called Jesus. In Beyond Cherry Mountain, author Lily Brassica shares her heartfelt personal testimony of how she found hope, faith, and inspiration in Jesus. And although life remained a struggle even after she learned about Jesus and his heavenly Father, this inspiring young woman knew that Jesus also started from humble beginnings, encouraging her to work hard, keep the faith, and never stop trying to improve her situation. As she clawed her way out of poverty one paycheck at a time, she continued to sacrifice, eventually becoming a cosmetologist and sharing Gods love with everyone who sat in her chair. Through poverty, personal problems, and health issues, Lily Brassica, stayed focused on the one thing that truly mattered to herspreading the feeling of hope to the hopeless and inspiration to the uninspired, as she used her styling chair as a pulpit to laugh, sing, pray, and cry with people from all walks of life. We could all use an inspiring word from time to timewhat better place to be inspired than when you are sitting in a chair blessed by God!

Download or read book Borrowed Children written by George Ella Lyon and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 1999-09-23 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " Golden Kite Award winner, 1989 Booklist, Editor's Choice School Library Journal, Best Books of 1988 Publisher's Weekly, Best Books of 1988 Twelve-year-old Amanda Perritt is pitched head-first into adult responsibilities when she has to quit school to care for her newborn brother and invalid mother. She gets an excape, she thinks, when she's offered a trip to stay with her grandmother and her sophisticated Aunt Laura in Memphis. But during the visit, she discovers unexpected parallels between her mother's childhood and her own and comes to understand her own individuality as well as what it means to be part of a family.

Download or read book The Child with No Identity written by Florence Lasayo and published by Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-01-17 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a story about a little girl who has no idea where she came from. She just found herself in the arms of a beautiful old woman who treated her with so much love, compassion, and care.