Chasing the Wind

When I read an encouraging story about someone who has overcome tremendous struggles by leaning on Christ, I want to shine a spotlight. Here’s Jennifer Sands in the Agape Press:

Author and 9/11 Widow’s Second Book Shares Ongoing Faith Journey

By Allie Martin
March 15, 2006

(AgapePress) – A woman whose husband was killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, says God used the tragedy to help her realize her need for a relationship with Christ.

Jennifer Sands lost her husband Jim when Muslim terrorists flew planes into Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City. In her first book, A Tempered Faith: Rediscovering Hope in the Ashes of Loss (Peak Writing, 2003), she told of her anger at God in the aftermath of the terror attacks.

In her second book, A Teachable Faith: Learning from God in Everyday Life (The Olive Press, 2005), Sands tells of her realization that, although she had attended a Catholic church for years, she had never truly trusted Christ as Savior and repented of her sins. In many ways, her loss led her to a clearer understanding of her need and a realization of the sufficiency of God’s grace and mercy to fulfill it.

In sharing her own journey toward genuine salvation, the author says, “I wanted to show proof of God’s faithfulness to us in the spiritual growth that takes place when we completely submit our lives and our wills to Christ and develop a close relationship with him.”

The lessons in A Teachable Faith are “reminders that God is always preparing us, and empowering us, and equipping us, and teaching us,” Sands explains. “We just need to carefully examine our lives to see the Lord working.”

Before 9/11, Sands recalls, “I did not have any relationship with Jesus. Now, of course, I’m a completely different person. I’m ‘a new creation. The old has gone; the new has come’ [2 Cor. 5:17]. But I think the journey was a result of just spending a lot of time in prayer and fellowship alone with the Lord every day and of hours and hours of Bible studies.”

In addition to the benefits of “immersing” herself in scripture and extended prayer, the author of A Teachable Faith says she credits much of her spiritual growth since her husband’s death to “being led to a Bible-believing church” as well as to “being discipled” by her pastor.

Today Sands, who lives in New Jersey, travels around speaking to secular and church groups around the U.S., sharing her experience and all it has taught her. In talking with audiences, she says one of her main goals is to encourage others to find the true hope and healing that can only come from a relationship with Christ.