Life
is Beautiful by Sarah M. Johnson
Life
is Beautiful: How a Lost Girl Became a True, Confident Child of God,
by
Sarah M. Johnson, takes
you on a full journey of trauma, loss, and finally resilience. While
on a mission’s trip in Guatemala, a small Cessna Caravan’s engine
blows while carrying fourteen passengers. Unfortunately, the Cessna
crashes in a remote village, leaving eleven of the fourteen
passengers dead. One passenger, Sarah, shares her story in Life
is Beautiful,
about the deaths of her father and brother; her mother’s extreme
physical and emotional injuries, and Sarah’s self-discovery to
accept this new life.
Life
is Beautiful,
however, is more than a story about an airplane crash. Life
is Beautiful shares
the personal struggles of Sarah’s father’s drug use, his
recovery, and redemption to be a better person. He gives back by
doing missions work in Africa, takes in Sarah’s aunt dying of
uterine cancer, and eventually leads their family to the mountains of
Guatemala. Sarah also discusses her struggles with alcohol use and
depression; where she eventually hits rock bottom. It is not until
she starts seeking God through prayer, books, and therapy, where she
starts to turn her life around.
Life
is Beautiful is
not only a unique story, but it shows the strength of God’s Will.
When all hope is lost, she never gives up on God. This story is a
true testimony of God’s love for His people, and when one seeks a
spiritual journey and connection with God; He gives back in love,
forgiveness, and happiness.
Life
is Beautiful will
be released on August 25, 2015. It is available for pre-order on
Amazon
and Barnes
& Noble.
Sarah
M. Johnson is currently a graduate student seeking her Marriage and
Family Therapy degree. She will graduate in 2015. She graduated with
a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work. After graduating, she
plans to open up a private practice office and guide those who are
seeking their own self-discoveries of love and happiness.
Sarah
believes that adversity is a gateway for change, and that through the
difficult times of sorrow, loss, depression, anxiety, relationship
issues, trauma, disease, or other mental illness, we can use this
adversity to self-explore and change for the better. We must not run
away from the adversity, but face it, heal, and use this particular
adversity as a learning lesson.
We
all have the capacity to be happy and love ourselves; but we must
utilize all necessary support systems, medical professionals, mental
health professionals, Religious affiliations, (and many more that I
am not mentioning) to help us find the Power Within. The Power Within
helps us to accept our adversity and create necessary change for a
life of love and happiness.
Connect
with Sarah on Facebook,
Twitter, and
Goodreads.
Chapter
1 – The Crash
I
remember all of the emotions, the trees whipping by, everything
happening so fast, dad yelling, Here
we go, and
mom screaming, Stop
it.
I remember my brother Zachary looking back at me, his eyes bright
with fear as I prayed God
please...
I
remember the sense of something coming; you know it’s coming and
wonder: will I live?
I
remember the violence of the plane plowing into the ground as we
attempted an emergency landing in a roughhewn field...Boom,
boom, boom...and
then nothing but an unnerving silence.
I
don’t know if I blacked out or merely paused with my eyes closed in
the stillness of those first few moments. Awareness comes slowly.
Then in a rushed breath of shock and revelation, Thank
God I’m alive.
My
eyes open to an eerily lit silence where sunlight and shadow
intermingle, making it difficult to see into the new geography of the
plane’s interior. My head and body buzz. My mind trips on the
dissonance of dangling upside down, held a few inches from the
ceiling of the plane’s cabin by my seatbelt.
Taking
stock of my body, I notice that I peed my pants and there is a small
cut on my left arm. Looking up, I see that one foot is missing its
shoe. My eyes squint into bright sunlight that passes through a
relatively large doorway next to me that was torn open.
The
only noise to break the silence is the erratic popping of
electricity; the final groans of a dying airplane.
I
move my arms first and then my legs, which causes small shards of
glass to fall from where they’re lodged in my clothes and upturned
seat. I tilt my head back toward the ceiling beneath me and it is
covered in broken glass.
My
hair dangles down away from my face, but the position of my body and
the way sunlight cuts through the cabin makes it difficult to see
much of the plane. In those few seconds I realize that I am okay and
begin to think that maybe we are all okay; that the crash wasn’t so
bad....
