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Taking My Life Back

My Story of Faith, Determination, and Surviving the Boston Marathon Bombing

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

On April 15, 2013, Rebekah Gregory and her five-year-old son waited at the finish line of the Boston Marathon to support a friend who was running. When the blasts of terrorists' homemade bombs packed with nails and screws went off three feet away, Rebekah's legs took the brunt of the blast, protecting her son from certain death. Eighteen surgeries and sixty-five procedures later, her left leg was amputated.

Despite the extraordinary trauma she underwent and the nightmares she continues to have, Rebekah sees it as just another part of her personal journey, a journey that has led her through abuse, mistakes, and pain and into the arms of Jesus. This stirring memoir tells the story of her recovery, including her triumphant return to Boston two years later to run part of the race, and explores the peace we experience when we learn to trust God with every part of our lives—the good, the bad, and even the terrifying.

Listeners will be moved by the joyous way Rebekah is determined to live her life, seeing every obstacle as part of how God forms us into the people we are meant to be. Listeners will also find comfort in the message that it's not what they can or can't do that makes the difference, but rather what God, in his mercy, does through them despite it all. Life is hard, but with God all things are possible.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from February 13, 2017
      It is impossible to remain unmoved by Gregory’s emotional, open memoir of surviving the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Aided by Flacco (The Road Out of Hell), she recounts, sometimes graphically, her terrifying experience from the moment the bomb exploded near her and her young son. From the start, she identifies herself as a Christian whose past adversities may have helped her find strength to overcome her injuries, both physical and mental. The prose is straightforward, and her voice is strong and self-aware when she suggests that being abused left her with a tendency to react with helplessness. There’s energy and good humor behind the pain when she describes the “Sad Skill”—“pushing honesty under the carpet”—that she developed in response to the disconnect between her father’s public and private personas. Being mistreated by her father, a preacher, led her to reject Christianity for a long time, but she found a role model in her mother, who “just lived .” The arc of the story moves from the bombing to a “happy continuation” in the conclusion. This is a truly feel-good book that doesn’t stint on the challenges that life throws at us.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

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