Review from a lady from TX of "Tried By Fire"

Tried By Fire – Review - A Humble Child of God, June 22, 2005
In Tried By Fire, Jodi Bowman Scully candidly narrates her journey through the heart-wrenching illness of her teenaged daughter. She takes us with her as, physically exhausted and emotionally spent, she travels the highways of rural South Carolina, Interstate 85 and onto the city streets of Atlanta where the hospital parking lots are crowded and the walks to Christy's treatments are long trails of frustration and uncertainty. As the illness progresses and the trips become more frequent, Jodi becomes isolated from her family and familiar surroundings, practically living in cold, impersonal hospitals. Besides Christy, her constant companions are the conflicting emotions that feed her weariness-fear and faith, grief and hope, anguish and peace.

Only a parent who has made this journey with a child can understand Jodi's struggle as she alternately prays, "I've released her to You, Lord", and "Please don't take her". When it seems evident that death is eminent, Jodi says, "I hated waiting for her to die. It made me feel as if I was for it, that I ok'd it."

The thing I appreciate most about Tried By Fire is Jodi's portrayal of herself. She presents herself not as a noble saint setting the bar for the rest of us, but as a humble child of God, fragile, whose only strength comes from Him. As Jodi watches her daughter's hopes and dreams devoured by autoimmune hemolytic anemia, we feel her pain, pray her prayers and experience her unshakable faith.

". . . what ever happens, it will be because of Your mercy. I've got to rest in that fact and trust in Your promise." (excerpt from pages of book)