Finding Grace by Donna VanLiere
A True Story About Losing Your Way in Life...and Finding it Again
Donna VanLiere’s memoir Finding Grace (publisher St. Martin's Press, ISBN-10: 0312380518, 2009) is a touching story about her life and journey to find meaning and grace. Life’s unexpected twists and turns give people gifts that they never planned on, but end up appreciating more than hoped for.
Sexual Abuse
Donna bravely describes her experience of sexual abuse as a child with heart breaking accuracy. The feelings of shame, lost innocence and no longer feeling special haunted her for a long time. It seems like she finally let go of blaming herself, and yet she can’t help but wonder if it would have made a difference had she told someone sooner.
The effect on children who are the victim of teachers who lack compassion or play favorites is also addressed. No one knows how bad a child might already feel, so it’s a good idea to avoid trying to make him or her feel worse.
Anyone who grew up in the seventies will have similar memories and recognize the description of television shows, décor and carefree attitude of children playing outdoors from morning till night.
Gifts of Grace
Finding Grace: A true story about losing your way in life…and finding it again is a story of hope and humor for others who may be disappointed with the hand they’ve been dealt. There are gifts that come out of grief and other people are helped in ways they never could have been if all went as planned.
In Donna’s case, two of those gifts were her adopted children after her struggle with infertility. Another gift that she didn’t acknowledge until later was her writing. Perhaps her experience with jobs in fast food joints, sales and acting gigs helped add color to her writing in the long run. Her journey of going through the motions with many of her jobs and her slow realization of what she really wants to do happen gradually.
Grace is a gift that Donna shares by being compassionate, forgiving, patient and by simply sharing her experiences and bonding with others who can relate.
Donna VanLiere is a popular speaker and the best selling author of the Christmas Hope series. She encourages others to share how they’ve experienced grace in their lives on her website donnavanliere.com. The last two pages have suggestions for 10 things you can do if you liked the book and reading guide questions for a book club. It’s an excellent way to get discussions going in order to comprehend and find grace with others.
Finding Grace
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