FIELDS OF GRACE

One young woman's struggle with her faith.

As Luce discovered, being the daughter of the well-known youth evangelist and co-founder of Teen Mania Ministries, Ron Luce, was no small task, especially as she grew into her teens and began to question her faith in God. With the help of Fisher (Narrative Journalism/Rutgers Univ.; co-author: The Woman Who Wasn't There: The True Story of an Incredible Deception, 2012, etc.), Luce delves into the complex world of personal faith, of growing up hearing one strict version of the Bible while feeling and believing that other variations of Christianity were possible, versions that tolerated same-sex marriage, drinking alcohol and the right to question religious texts. Although she dearly loved her father and enjoyed their long talks on car rides and mission trips, she didn’t always support his rhetoric. "Papa had come to his own conclusions about God and the church, and I was forming my own,” she writes. “We didn’t have to agree. However it all shook out I would respect Papa's beliefs, and I hoped that he would respect me for searching so long and hard to find mine." Confused and conflicted, Luce relied on her two best friends, Austin and Garrett, for emotional, physical and spiritual support. Then her world was devastated when the small plane she was traveling in with these two friends and two others crashed, killing everyone onboard except Luce. What followed was physical trauma as well as the extreme guilt and anguish she felt at being the sole survivor. After months of recovery, Luce discovered the answers to the questions for which she had been searching for so long.

A tender, Christian-based memoir of love and friendship.