You may already be a fan of novelist, Donna VanLiere. She is the best-selling author of the Christmas Promise, The Christmas Shoes, The Christmas Blessing, The Christmas Hope and The Angels of Morgan Hill. In her new book Finding Grace – A Memoir, she tells her own story.

Donna VanLiere begins her story in 1970 as a girl of three. She takes the reader on a voyage through her childhood and into adulthood. She relates the painful memories of being molested twice as a child and not being able to come to terms with it until she was well into adulthood. Her struggles don’t end there. She takes the reader through the disappointment of miscarriage and then not being able to conceive a child. In an effort to have children of her own, she endured several failed attempts with fertility treatments before becoming the adoptive mother of three.

Ms VanLiere writes in a very comfortable, easy reading style. Finding Grace is a lovely true story that draws you from one page to the next. The reader feels her pain and disappointments, but also laughs with her as she describes the humorous happenings in life. Finding Grace is a book of finding God given joy in everyday events. It is a reminder to be alert because we can so easily miss God’s gifts while attending to our own agenda.

Finding Grace is so easy to read – and only about 210 pages long - that it is tempting to read it too fast and possibly miss some important points. To remedy this, there are questions listed at the end of the book that will help the reader to dig deeper into the life lessons and into their own feelings and experiences.

I admit that when I read the words “a Memoir” in the title, I flipped to the back page to see Ms. VanLiere’s picture. I immediately thought, “ How can she write a memoir? She is much too young.” However, in reading, I found that through the experiences described in the book, she developed a keen understanding of grace. That’s how God teaches us – through tough struggles.

What will I remember from reading Finding Grace? Even when my own dreams and expectations for my life dissolve, God has bigger and better plans for me. I must watch for God in everyday situations, recognizing and taking His grace as it comes. Finding Grace is an inspirational memoir about coming face-to-face with our greatest pain and discovering our greatest joy.