Book Review: Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, by Immaculée Ilibagiza

     You have to check out the book I just finished reading last night…  Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, by Immaculée Ilibagiza.  Talk about inspiring!  If you haven’t heard of Immaculée, let me tell you briefly about her.

     During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when she was 23 years old, two of her brothers and her mom and dad were among the 1 million Tutsis slain in just 3 months.  The local pastor hid Immaculée and 7 other women in a 4’x3′ bathroom for 91 days.  She has finally gotten her story published, and what a blessing to the world that she did!  This is an amazing account of survival, determination, spiritual faith, and creative visualization, but, more importantly, her story is about forgiveness.  This is an amazing woman.

     That is as much as you’ll read on the flyleaf of the book jacket, so that’s all I’m going to say – you can get more details by reading her remarkable book.  Left to Tell Website

There’s a quote that I’d like to close with – one that I came across after having a personally profound experience with forgiveness several years ago.  The act of forgiveness is a truly trans-logical experience, but this quote does give us a logical reason to try to forgive. 

“The reason to forgive is for our own sake.  For our own health.  Because beyond that point needed for healing, if we hold onto our anger we stop growing and our souls begin to shrivel.” –M. Scott Peck