It''s not what I lost. It''s what I''ve found. I was only seventeen, just a girl, when God asked me for everything I had . . . my health, my hopes, my independence, my dreams, my freedom, and my mobility. He took it all.

I was so angry with Him that I tried to push Him away. God relentlessly held me more closely. Looking back, forty years later, I understand that God has changed and healed me--my heart and my mind--in the most unexpected ways, giving me rubies of His wisdom about an unbending faith and an experience of His mercy I can now tell you about.

Was it a fair exchange, my freedom and no wheelchair for the rubies of wisdom I''ve been given? Absolutely. In this I have learned at the feet of the Lord Jesus, embracing the way that God heals us, even when we rage at Him in anger, fear, and despair. This book is not about what I lost in that diving accident so long ago. It''s about the wisdom He''s given me to live life victoriously in the face of disappointments and challenges that we all face.