Dare to Begin Again: Let God Write Your Best Future

Rivera (Wonder Women), executive director of residential addiction treatment facility New Life for Youth, walks Christian women through real-life scenarios of paralyzing setbacks, offering tips for escaping such situations. Rivera writes about having an ultrasound and learning that her unborn son appeared to have hydrocephalus. Refusing to terminate the pregnancy as the doctor advised, Rivera prayed for God to take over and heal her son. When the next ultrasound was taken, all previous signs of hydrocephalus were gone. “While facing the uncertainty of my baby’s future, I also wrestled with my own guilt,” she writes. “I wondered, How could I be so strong for others and yet crumble in the face of my own adversity?” For Rivera, this moment renews her faith in God, but she also realizes that the slope toward depression, anxiety, sin, and anger is dangerously slippery. Through 16 examples, she explores ways to lift oneself out of challenging situations—her mother and father gathering food for the homeless during an energy crisis in 1981, a woman from her congregation who becomes a better neighbor after her husband’s infidelity. Rivera’s inviting book will be encouraging for Christian women looking to get past a difficult time. (Sept.)