Cheryl McGuinness is a former Navy wife whose husband was a co-pilot on the plane that crashed into the first World Trade Center on 9-11-01. Chronicling her journey to healing after she lost her husband, Cheryl wrote Beauty Beyond the Ashes: Choosing Hope After Crisis, and now has a ministry also called Beauty Beyond the Ashes. I was so impressed by her book that I have to tell you about it. I read a lot of books, including a fair share of memoirs, but this one stands out from the rest. Usually, the memoir is not my favorite genre. Either the memoir is more depressing than it is hopeful, or it isn't edited well because they were in a rush to release it, or it just isn't relevant to my own life. You can tell by just a three-second flip through the pages that Cheryl's book is different.
In Beauty Beyond the Ashes, she shares her story in the first part of each chapter, but devotes the second half of each chapter to drawing out the principle that any reader can apply to his or her own life. I have never seen a memoir structured this way, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Clearly, Cheryl does not want to hog the attention because of what happened to her life. She could if she wanted to, because it's that dramatic. Instead, she shows the rest of us how we can learn something from what God did in her life. And she shows us God's gentle hand throughout. For example, Chapter Five is called "God's Hands and Feet," and the Principle is " God wants you to experience His love through the loving care of His people." In this chapter, she shares how her community rallied around her family after the tragic loss of her husband. But then she pulls out the principle and applies it to us by expanding on these four points:
- God can use anyone.
- We need to accept the help of others.
- We need to be sensitive to the needs of others.
- Ministry to others can be accomplished in the simplest ways.
Chapter Six discusses her husband's legacy. The principle she emphasizes is "God designed your life to have an impact on eternity." The points she makes for us are these:
- We determine what our legacy will be.
- We are being watched.
- Sometimes we need healing from past hurts in order to leave a positive legacy.
- We can begin today to build a legacy.
I can't tell you how refreshing it was for me to read this book, especially after reading so many other accounts of Sept. 11, 2001. I lived in Washington, D.C., during the terrorist attacks myself, so these stories always strike a nerve with me because of my own memories. Researching for my own book, I read another memoir of a woman whose firefighter husband died in the WTC. Correction: I stopped reading it- this couple had no faith in God at all, and could only turn to alcohol and drugs to help them cope. The excruciating void of hope evident in her book caused me to put the book down before finishing it. The difference between that book and Beauty Beyond the Ashes is as dramatic as night and day. Jesus in your life makes all the difference in the world. Thank you, Cheryl McGguinness, for so beautifully sharing your own story of Beauty Beyond the Ashes: Choosing Hope After Crisis. I give this book five stars, and highly recommend it to those who are desperate for hope, and for the rest of us--for if we haven't been there yet, we all will be at one point or another. I leave you with this quote from page 237:
On September 11, 2001, the day my nightmare began, I knew God, but I didn't have the ability to trust him completely. I loved him, but I couldn't bring myself to turn over every aspect of my life to him. In the months that followed, however, God slowly turned my disbelief into belief. I have learned that God is my refuge and strength. I have learned that he does truly love me. And I have come to see that I can trust him in all things. I couldn't see that on September 11--not like I see it today. But over these passing months and now years, my Prince of Peace has brought me peace and given me hope.
Read more about Cheryl's story in the 9-11-01 section of Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front.
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