Welcome back to another Getting to Know You post!

Things are a bit different today (don’t panic, it really is just a bit) as I am going to introduce you to an author.

Today’s getting to know you writers is Sarah M Johnson from Life is Beautiful Book

Several months back I was contacted and asked if I would read and review Sarah’s book Life is Beautiful: How a Lost Girl Became a True, Confident Child of God

How could I resist such a title. So, I said yes, and the rest as they say, is history.

As I opened the book and turned to the first page, I knew this was going to be an emotional roller coaster, even as a reader.

I was not disappointed.

From the very first words, The Crash, I was mesmerized as I started this journey with Sarah.

Although the journey begins in the middle, it isn’t long until I realized Sarah was living a life full of heaviness.

The road to recovery is never a smooth surfaced road. There are usually twists and turns we don’t expect. For Sarah, the road began when she, her brother, her mom, and her dad boarded a small plane headed for Guatemala.

Often through loss, we find life. Sometimes when we least expect it, God’s plan begins to take shape in our lives. Perhaps not in the ways we imagined we would find life, but find it we do by the grace of God. Sarah’s story shows us that ten fold.

When trials come, there are usually two paths by which to walk; by faith to become stronger or by letting it destroy us.

Sarah chose faith- perhaps not by choice in the beginning- and often kicking and dragging her feet, but certainly through great change and tragedy God led her down a path paved with love.

Sarah faced struggles she couldn’t even begin to understand at such a young age. As her story unfolds, each new challenge leads Sarah to wanting needing to find ways of escape what is her family and the madness it creates.

We learn she is partying and turning to alcohol to hide her true inner self. As she drinks she discovers the problems fade and she becomes more outgoing and fun. A far cry from her normal shy, introverted self. However, the problems as always accompany the hangovers in the morning.

Sarah’s life is a whirl wind of one thing after another, her family taking in a dying relative, her father’s addiction and recovery, a lack of emotional connections, a renewal of her parent’s relationship, her alcoholism, failing school, wanting to know God but not sure what that looked like, life and  death. All of these things culminate to bring Sarah to her life’s path.

Life isn’t always pretty, in fact it’s mostly messy and often just on the verge of maddening, but through grace, guidance, and love we often come out on the other side better than we were before.

I encourage you to go on this journey with Sarah.

I saw my life differently after reading her book, came to some life decisions and felt a sense of renewal. Often knowing we are not alone in our trials and that there are others who struggle too, makes all the difference in the world.