While recently attending the Knoxville Book Festival I had the opportunity to meet author Pebbles Wireman. We spoke about her book “Finding Faith in the Storm” and the life experiences that led her to write it. Pebbles is a sparkly woman with a smile that immediately draws you in. As she related all the medical traumas she’d experienced it, was hard to understand how she could continue to have the strong Christian faith that is an integral part of her. I was so moved by our conversations I made up my mind to buy a copy of her book. Before I could do that, she came to my table with a signed copy.

Pebbles was still in high school when the car she was driving was run off the road by a drunk driver. Her vivid descriptions of what she remembers of the accident are intensely heartbreaking. The details of the accident are told through the memories of a woman who came upon the car, flipped over in a ditch, ‘the wheels still spinning.’

Pebbles was released from the hospital days later, still in pain. She had sustained broken bones, whiplash, multiple cuts and bruises, and most frightening, a traumatic brain injury. The vision of this young girl, her life changed forever by the irresponsible actions of a stranger is painful to imagine.

Pebbles related her journey through medical procedures, physical therapy, and disappointments that might leave another person shattered. But through prayer and people who enter her life at just the right time, Pebbles fights on. There are many physical challenges throughout this book. Despite what she faced, and still faces, her faith carries her forward.

Pebbles takes the tragedies and uses them to share with others how faith in God and Jesus has given her both strength and comfort. Her ability to inspire others with her words are an invaluable gift to anyone who reads her memoir. This is not a book exclusively for Christians. I’m Jewish and the tale of her indomitable spirit and faith is a testament to the strength offered by belief in God’s love.