Grand Prize Winner: "A Time to Heal."

Submitted by: Beth Marshall

"The Lord is so loving the way He doesn't allow one tragedy, hurt or pain be wasted.

I have been amazed the way He used the unthinkable sorrow of September 11th, 2001, to start a project that has now gone around the world. As the heartbreaking stories unfolded after 9/11 I, like many others felt the unshakable urge to do something to make a difference. It was within a few weeks, the Lord led me to create A Time to Heal, a grief journal. My desire was to use the pain of my mom's sudden death, just 1 year earlier to hopefully bring about some healing for victim's families. A Time to Heal was designed to walk someone through a season of grief by telling the story of their loved one's life. The journal is bathed in powerful scriptures and filled with the hope found in Jesus Christ.

In November, 2001 I was asked to join a group traveling from SC to NYC to deliver teddy bears to children who had lost a parent. My role was to bring along some of the newly printed journals to leave in New York. We were able to share journals with FDNY fire fighters who had lost brave co-workers, leave copies for relief workers near ground zero and drop off copies at St Patrick's Cathedral.

From the beginning, I have sensed the Lord's hand orchestrating it's path. Within another month from the NY trip, the book took another surprising turn when it became a resource for healing at the Army Chaplain's Office at the Pentagon.

I tell you all this to say, we serve a loving and awesome God who cares about His children; also that when He begins something, He will surely complete His work!

Ten years later, in April of this year A Time to Heal, a grief journal was published and released worldwide. About a month later a friend from Japan felt that same unshakable urge I had felt, to do something. She desperately wanted to help families in Japan devastated by the March tsunami and earthquakes. My friend Mika surprised me with a beautiful Japanese manuscript she had translated! Thankfully, that (free pdf download) is now available to pastors serving in Japan.

My prayer is that the book will continue to travel, and reach people in many more languages... Spanish is in the works now! To God be the glory!!"