Inspirational stories of God's love and grace...

The last four years, I prayed daily for God to show me a way to live my life so that I could get through it without fear and hatred being my chief motivators. A messy divorce with children will do that – oh yes it will. My prayers last-miled from ‘Make Me Win’ to ‘Help Me Get Through The Day’ to finally and blessedly – ‘Open My Eyes To a Better Way.’

With hindsight, I usually pick up on an inordinate amount of good following in the path of catastrophe. I am always one to believe that we learn, grow, and become stronger from any misfortune life deals us. In fact, I have benefitted through so many disasters in my life, this new feeling...that I'd finally reached the saturation point...was alien to me.

Baghdad, Iraq. Land of political turmoil, broken up by disaster and war. At least that’s how we all know Iraq from the television. It is not a picture of home, safety or peace, rather it is a portrait of war, destruction and hatred. It is hard to believe that to some of us it was once home. I was one of those people, and I learned to love Baghdad, its inhabitants and the surroundings. Most of all, I learned to value and appreciate human life in general and not to take anything in life for granted.