To Fly Again: Surviving the Tailspins of Life »

Is it possible to soar—not just survive—after life has knocked you down?

Like a violent microburst that threatens to down an aircraft, an unexpected crisis may rock your world and leave you wondering whether life—as you’ve known it anyway—is over.

Gracia Burnham understands those feelings. She and her husband, Martin, spent a horrific year as hostages among the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the Philippines. She was rescued after a gun battle that killed her husband. When she returned to the United States, her life was filled with uncertainty.

In this book, Gracia Burnham reflects on how, by God’s grace, she is rebuilding her life. Using illustrations from the Burnhams’ year in the jungle, as well as her experiences since returning home, Gracia writes about the confusion, fear, anger, anxiety, and loss of control that all people in crisis experience. She also illustrates how God longs to pour his grace into people with broken dreams and fill their life with new meaning and joy.

You may be one of the many thousands of people who know the Burnhams’ story from Gracia’s first book, In the Presence of My Enemies. Or perhaps you are seeking direction and hope in the midst of your own crisis. Either way, after reading this book you’ll better understand why God’s sufficiency, grace, and peace are never so real as when you choose to trust him in the midst of pain and difficulty.

Publishers Weekly

In her memoir In the Presence of My Enemies, Burnham shared the details of her and husband Martin's year-long captivity at the hands of the rebel Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines. In this second book, Burnham shares 21 spiritual lessons she learned during this time and the months that followed Martin's death and her release. Burnham, who now lives with her three children in Kansas, recalls the simple yet profound truths she has gleaned from events such as learning to forgive her captors, ministering to the rebel called "57," worrying about having enough water, receiving a hammock and hearing a hymn. She uses her captivity and her captors as springboards for helping readers understand such issues as anger, forgiveness, kindness, heaven and faithfulness. Her main mission is to encourage readers as they face events and challenges beyond their control. Her gentle teaching through stories of her captivity and life afterward may seem lightweight and a bit simple, but the biblical truths she explores are not. This is no exegetical study of the Bible, but an honest, heartfelt look at how one woman deals with her past and her present. Burnham isn't letting herself or her readers quit: "That is where I stand today: trusting God to make something of me... to grace me again." (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.