LONGWOOD, FL-Cactuses are fully adapted to living in a hostile environment, yet they manage to "survive and thrive"-why should it not be the same for us? We face tough challenges every day, and it seems as though life gets harder all the time. God knows what we are going through, and He has equipped us with a "thorny" exterior of our own that will enable us to be survivors. B.J. Nicol's Life as a Cactus: Lessons From a Survivor ($13.99, paperback. 978-1-60266-264-3; $21.99, hardcover, 978-1-60266-265-0) teaches readers through analogies how they will be able to adapt like the cactus by triumphing over trials and overcoming ordeals.
Nicol developed her cactus-like exterior through a series of life challenges, but she took away something far greater than a thick skin. "As an individual, I have endured extreme hardships in my life from the time I was an infant, up to and including adulthood," says Nicol. "These difficulties include physical and sexual abuse as a small child, a tumultuous adolescence, divorce and remarriage, and serious illnesses. God has never failed me; He has only proved to me time and time again that He has provided a way for us to survive and overcome."
With the world at war and our personal lives a mere microcosm of the greater struggle going on, the important message people need to get is that we will survive. Nicol's study of God's Word, coupled with her background in counseling, offers readers an enlightened understanding of what it takes to overcome the difficult challenges of life and how to survive and thrive in spite of them.
B.J. Nicol is the author of GodŐs Pottery and has also written several short stories. She had one true story included in Xulon Press' anthology, Praise Reports. When she is not being a wife, mother, grandmother, homemaker, and writer, she is a freelance photographer.
Xulon Press, a part of Salem Communications Corporation, is the world's largest Christian publisher, with more than 3,900 titles published to date. Retailers may order Life as a Cactus through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. Salem Communications is the country's leading Christian communications company with interests in radio, Internet, and magazine publishing.
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2007