Miracles Happen By God’s Grace
by Ralph Peluso, Literary Editor
Zebra Rating – 5 Stripes
In the future when you think you’re having a rough day—worked late again, family members inconsiderate, or soccer coach kept children too long at practice—think again. After reading By the Grace of God, I realized nothing we do in our daily lives rises to the level of a rough day—not until you’ve “learned” to eat a coal sandwich to survive.
As unreal as that sounds, it is just one of the things Norma Shifflett endured as a child. In her short, poignant autobiography, Norma walks us through the full gamut of her ups and downs: suffering under a dysfunctional early home life replete with alcohol addiction and physical abuse, followed by a carousel of foster situations. And then, a heartless separation from her siblings due to a mild but persistent disability.
Finally settling in, she is adopted by a wonderful woman. Norma credits her adopted mom with saving her life. As a teenager, she sets out to find her sisters and along the way discovers family secrets. With few resources, Norma uses her creative instincts to keep hope alive.
Her search is heart wrenching, filled with disappointments, dead ends, anger, and hopelessness, but ultimately joy. Along the way, she learns some very tough lessons, the toughest perhaps that the abusive adults in her life would never own up. Norma says she often felt melancholy when seeing other people reunited with family members. She wondered if her time would ever come.
