Product Description

Anyone can make a wrong turn in life--and, by God's grace, anyone can make a U-turn. This brand-new collection of stories, the third in the acclaimed God Allows U-Turns series, focuses on stories by, about, and for women. "My heart broke time and again while I read stories of abuse, addiction, shame, guilt, and fear," writes series creator Allison Gappa Bottke in her introduction. "In equal measure I rejoiced with thanksgiving as contributors shared how faith in God brought hope and healing to a hurtin heart and soul." Readers will be encouraged to know that their trials are not unique--and that circumstances can, by God's grace, change for the better.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #308576 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This is no run-of-the-mill, cheesy inspirational book. Even the most cynical reader will find the introduction, in which Bottke describes her husband's transformation from a loving man into a wife-beating brute who almost killed her, gripping. She then describes the equally dramatic way God transformed her life. The essays that follow are just as moving, if not always quite as gut-wrenching. Candace Carteen's loving contribution describes her father's struggle with Parastremmatic Dwarfism and her own struggle to love and accept him. In "The Nativity Scene at Easter," Cindy Appel offers a simple meditation on the connections between Easter and Christmas. Susan Fahncke shares a snapshot of her husband signing "I love you" to his deaf baby son. Chapter Four, "Angels Among Us," offers four essays about seeing God's messengers in ordinary folks. This is not a book to read through in one sitting the bite-sized chapters should be savored one or two at a time, like chocolates from a sampler. Readers will enjoy this volume and eagerly await not just future anthologies by the same editors, but essays and devotions by the dozens of contributors they will discover here. Christians will want to pass this book along to their nonbelieving friends, and they will want to keep a copy for themselves.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Allison Gappa Bottke started the God Allows U-Turns project after a dramatic "U-turn" experience in her own life. A professional fund-raiser for non-profit organizations, Allison works and writes from her home in Minnesota.

Customer Reviews

Tell all your friends!
God Allows U-Turns is a book that you must read carefully to process and savor the messages inside. The stories are written from the heart by ordinary people who have words of hope, encouragement and healing through sometimes very painful situations. In the midst of each story, God speaks, He moves. This is not a book that you will easily forget. You will experience the awesome power of God as he reached down and saved a young man's life in the story "River Ride." Each story will touch your heart, mind and soul.

The most amazing books
God Allows U-Turns are the most amazing books I have ever read. Currently I have read volumes 1 & 2. These stories are so down to earth, they are truly real. Stories about everyday people overcoming tremendous obstacles. It's about hope and healing. Stories that make your eyes water and your heart smile. Each story is like a sip of sunlight which leaves you thirsty for more. I wasn't able to put them down. I am eagerly awaiting volume 3.

Blessed by this book
I purchased your book GOD ALLOWS U TURNS last summer and my God, has it blessed my life. I was struggling with sin When I went to my local Christian book store I saw the book sitting there and the title just spoke to me. I had to buy it, but ironically I was buying it for someone else instead of myself. Well, I started to read it and realized I need this book more than the person I'm buying it for. Praise God for the revelation because reading the numerous stories of hope, love, forgiveness and peace made an impact on me. The realness by which so many of the people wrote their stories has blessed me and kept me encouraged. It has showed me that "real" people who are Believers still struggle with doing the will of the Lord but that God through his Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us back to the path of righteousness if we breakdown and come to him and "want" to change. I could write more, but I won't.

One of the stories made me cry! She and I have the same upbringing and like her I have struggled most of my life with understanding what true love is. Because I was not nurtured or shown real love by my parents it's always been difficult for me to understand and experience God's love. When I was younger I made friends with people I should not have been with and ended up marrying someone who does not love me. Yet, reading Tammera's story helped me to experience God's love for me and see that God has understood all my life this struggle and that he has been waiting and filling in the voids in my life that were not filled in when I was a child. So, please tell her thank you for having the courage and for allowing God to use her story and life to bless me. I never knew anyone else out there struggled with understanding and experiencing true love.
Tracy D.