Total Page : 452
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant
Publication Date : 2009 09 17
>> Change Your Life
This is one of the most compelling books I have ever read It is spiritual without being preachy If you believe in a Supreme Being no matter what religious denomination or you don t believe at all this will change your life for the better God Bless Immaculee
>> The most touching book I ever read
As I said on title this was the most touching book I ever read and I read a lot of books You will discover the meaning of the words faith miracle forgiveness and love
Thank you for this book Immacul e Ilibagiza
>> Draws you in from the start
The book Left to Tell Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust is a difficult read I did enjoy learning about everything Immaculee had to live through but if you ever choose to read this book make sure to have a box of Kleenex on hand From the beginning all the way to the end you cannot help but root for the best for Immaculee She draws you in and makes you feel as though you are attached to the bathroom and frightened along with her Through Immaculee s strength and courage that she shows seven women were saved and God was once again able to be the center of her life
The Rwandan Holocaust claimed over 1 000 000 lives During Belgian occupation the Holocaust the Belgians came into Rwanda and split the people into two groups These two groups really had no true meaning but to the Belgians it was based upon arbitrary characteristics like your height or the width of your nose Most of the Rwandans did not even know which they were in truth
The two groups they were split into were called the Hutu and the Tutsi The Tutsi were given all the power by Belgium They were taller and had smaller noses so they were closer to the white s body structure They forced the Hutu s to work for them which caused too much suffering Eventually the Belgians left When they did they left the power to the Hutu In order to get back at the Tutsi for all the suffering they had caused the Hutu banded together to extinguish the Tutsi They went on a three month killing spree in 1994 to rid their world of Cockroaches
In the beginning of this book Immaculee Ilibagiza talks about how happy she was with her family during her childhood It becomes a little irritating yet sweet at the same time that her memory of her family makes them seem so perfect No one is that perfect but you still want to believe her It is easy to tell that she is not playing the pity card but rather she is just trying to portray her family in a good light to show how all her people were taken for no reason other than the hatred that spread For the first part of the book she explains that her family would pray together every night She makes it clear that praying was a way to keep strength in her family Her mother made sure they never missed evening prayer because there was no strength that was closer and more important than the strength of God
During the genocide in 1994 Immaculee was a student in college To attempt escape from the danger she and seven others hid in their pastor s house in one of his back bathrooms They were in there three months Immaculee did the only thing she could and returned to her roots through prayer As Immaculee shares in her book The struggle between my prayers and the evil whispers that I was sure belonged to the devil raged in my mind I never stopped praying and the whispering never relented 79
When Immaculee went into the bathroom with the others she was over 120 pounds When she was brave enough to make a run for it three months later she weighed only 80 pounds She spent the whole time just trying to keep faith even though she was greatly suffering She says that aside from the wardrobe that is blocked the bathroom door from plain sight the only other thing that made her feel more secure was that Jesus was shining a white light on the door to protect them She says she even had a dream one night where Jesus came to her saying be at peace and trust in me for I will always be at your side 111
This part was a little difficult for me to trust in but I want to believe her To dream of God would be an amazing feeling I can only imagine the comfort she felt by this No wonder she had the strength to trust Him and walk out of the bathroom I was even more impressed that Immaculee was still able to keep a level mind Even though Jesus had come to her to give reassurance she still realized that she needed to act with a level head but that God had given her the strength to overcome her fear Immaculee was very lucky to see these visions but unfortunately her family was not so lucky
After finding out that her family including all her small siblings had been brutally murdered I m not sure how she found the strength to forgive the Hutus Immaculee realized that her people had suffered enough They had all suffered Hutu and Tutsi alike Somehow she found the strength within God to help her forgive which I don t think is something I could have done If someone had murdered my brother I know I would not be able to forgive them It would take every fiber of my being not to hurt them back Immaculee s family was close to her just as my family especially my brother is close to me However I have no doubt that I would not have the strength Immaculee did I m not sure how she came up with the strength Even if she would not be as angry as to seek revenge I would at least think she would be resentful towards them I m impressed how much she is able to trust and forgive She almost makes forgiveness seem too easy
