Moments of Grace: Meeting the Challenge to Change

In this affecting work, Washington Post reporter Gaines (Laughing in the Dark) explores those turning points in a life when an individual must accept change or suffer the psychological or spiritual consequences. Sharing her own painful history of drug addiction and of rape and physical abuse at the hands of men she loved, Gaines manifests an intelligent and mellow wisdom. She treats her own insight into her travails as spiritual awakenings, or gifts from God. Without preaching or cheerleading, she points out the powerful, life-changing lessons available in her experiences and in those of others. She honestly and compassionately describes the human tendency to avoid learning lessons and to refuse to make needed changes, and she exhorts her readers to find courage, perseverance and faith. Examining such topics as romantic relationships, friends, family and work, Gaines emanates the love, gentleness and peace she has found through accepting her own ""moments of grace."" An African American who has suffered much, Gaines faced ""the challenge to change"" and concluded that ""Heaven was no longer a place where I could go if I was good; it was a state of being."" (Feb.)