Life is Beautiful: How a Lost Girl Became a True, Confident Child of God

This book truly humbles you. We all have a purpose in life and at times we forget to be grateful for life. Sarah shows us in her book that it takes strength, courage and the foundation of love and a connection to a higher source to get out of our own way and grow into the person and life we are destined for.

I work in a world where life is not always beautiful. Parents neglect and harm children. They make promises they can’t or don’t intend to keep. Children grow up thinking they are the problem…that if only they were good enough or pretty enough or nice enough, then someone will love them. And since they don’t ever feel good or pretty or nice enough, they often look for ways to medicate the pain. Self-destructive behaviors take over and the cycle often ends up repeating itself generation after generation.On days like the one I’ve had today as I write this post, mean words and hateful acts make it seem like life is anything but beautiful. So to open a book called Life is Beautiful is a bit of a stretch some days.Life is Beautiful: How a Lost Girl Became a True, Confident Child of God, by Sarah M. Johnson, reminded me that none of us are alone when it comes to facing trials in life. Stuff happens. People don’t do what they are supposed to do. And sometimes you wind up in situations that you never dreamed of.For Sarah, it was a plane crash that forced her to deal with life’s realities. Sarah grows up in a family that is at once loving and distant. Her father’s drug abuse made Sarah angry but wasn’t enough to keep her from sliding down the same slope of alcohol abuse. As families are complicated, Sarah loved and hated her father all at the same time she didn’t want to disappoint him. Feeling like she had when she failed in school, she slipped further into the addiction cycle.God, however, has a funny way of showing up when we least expect it and when He showed up for Sarah, she kept Him in her sights even through the worst days of her life. During her father’s recovery the family travels to Guatemala on a mission trip. In a small plane with 14 passengers when it crashes, Sarah, her mom and one other passenger are the only survivors. And Sarah is left to deal with the deaths of her father and brother, and the severe injuries of her mom all alone.Again, Sarah continues to go back towards God, even though some days she can barely function through the haze of her addiction. Sarah’s story seems hopeless at times but with God, there is always hope. Through prayer and therapy, Sarah begins to rely more and more on God and begins to so see how He is truly working to make her life beautiful again. That’s the compelling part of Sarah’s story – that she returned to God over and over again, and He answered her prayers.Life is Beautiful will encourage you to view your life’s circumstances through a different lens. It will help you look for the ways God is working around you. It will lead you to search out the places where God is connecting with you through the story He is allowing you to live.Because that’s the thing about this life. God never promised it would be easy. But He did promise to show up. He did promise to never leave us. He did promise to work in all things for our good. And when you recognize that, just like Sarah, you will find that life can truly be beautiful again.

My very good friend was on this fateful trip also. I have often wondered what her final moments were like. She was a beautiful, smart, and caring woman. She was so excited to be doing this humanitarian trip to Guatemala but little did she know she was about to be reunited with her mother whom she missed so very much, in Heaven. This picture was given to us after the crash from a cell phone found at the crash site. Thank you Sarah although this was hard to read at times, I know a little more about what she endured her final moment alive.

Sarah's life was changed forever when the plane carrying her, her parents and brother crashed, killing everyone but Sarah and her Mom, but still leaving her mother seriously injured.Life is Beautiful is written by Sarah, as she shares the story of how she overcame her struggles with alcohol and depression. She also goes back and forth from before and after the crash, telling her own father's story about his recovery from drug use, and how he wanted to do missions work in Africa.Life is Beautiful really is a beautiful story about how we can overcome much in our lives, no matter how painful. Sarah is utterly honest with this without being explicit and the writing is fairly good.I've taken the time to read more autobiographies and memoirs of late, mainly Christian ones. I expect a lot from them. They can be at times boring, and this one wasn't - not at all.You get to know the author and feel her struggles, seeing how she climbed back up after hitting rock bottom. The pictures were a nice added touch as well, which is something I also enjoy seeing in books that aren't fiction.With all it's good points Life is Beautiful left me with more questions at the end that I'm sure a few people will have as well. Why in the book did Ms. Sarah not talk about how you become a Christian? And another thing - God wasn't mentioned a whole lot throughout Life is Beautiful. Why?! I wanted more of her spiritual journey! I find this very important, because I felt it should be the focus of the story and it didn't feel like it - to me anyway.I saw a lot of reviews where people said otherwise, but still I found how she became a Christian sadly lacking in description. I think readers need to see more of that and we don't.Other then that the book was decently good. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to see how God can heal and how He works with a purpose. It could've been displayed more but we still saw glimpses.

I couldn't put this book down. This story was very touching and honest. This reminded me that healing & recovery is a life long process and not so much finding our ideal lives with out heartbreak & disappointment but finding our truth and thriving despite the pain we all face.