Many of you think that all the books I recommend are depressing because I'm a sucker for non-fiction and reading about life that is...messy and imperfect and difficult. I feel like we learn the deepest during times of great desperation and despair, so I try to learn as much as possible from these people, gleaning wisdom, experience, and understanding into lives that have seen many more valleys of death than my own.
Immaculee Ilibagiza's book, Left to Tell, is one such story, as it recounts one young woman's experience living through the Rwandan Holocaust of 1994. (If you haven't seen the movie Hotel Rwanda, you might consider watching it. It tells the same story and is one of those movies that you're glad you saw, but never want to see again). After reading this book, it's hard to imagine that I was a middle schooler then, probably stressed about exams or my jammed locker when something so awful was going on across the ocean. Without giving away too much of the story, Immaculee tells her account of growing up in Rwanda, hiding in a tiny bathroom with seven other women for three months to escape imminent and violent death by Hutu rebels, and her faith in and dependence upon God throughout her heartbreaking experience.
Only in America do we expect life to be easy and then question God when it isn't. Only in America do we think we deserve happiness or have a right to peaceful living. Of course, we all wish for and desire that, but we certainly do not deserve it. God has made two promises concerning crisis and tragedy and neither includes a carefree life. He has promised that 1) We will experience it in our lifetime, and 2) He is good and ever-present. Some contend that those two statements cannot coexist, but as with so many Biblical truths, it can--and really has to be--both and.
After reading this book, I am more aware of suffering around the world, more grateful for my own country--even in the middle of a recession--and more challenged to depend on God in the midst of difficulty and trial, trusting that He has perfect and redemptive plans for me. This book is a quick read and such a vivid reminder that out of the valleys of death come deep, rich, refined gems of hope.
2 comments:
I just finished "Say You're One of Them," a collection of short stories about the same period. you'd like it.
i, too, like depressing books!
You're too smart for me.
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