Book: Colors of Salvation: Substance Abuse
Author: Brad Duncan
My Rating: 3 Stars
Heeeey fellow bibliophiles! Want to support a local author? Check out Colors of Salvation by Brad Duncan. He sent me a copy in exchange for an honest review, so here we go.
Colors of Salvation is a compilation of several stories of people who conquered their addictions through the help of Jesus Christ. In between stories Brad adds words of wisdom and words of hope – which could be statistics, encouraging quotes or scriptures, and also short devotional like segments written by others. It’s a very unique book. I didn’t really know how I would feel about it going in, because non-fiction isn’t really my go to genre and I don’t have much close personal experiences with addiction or substance abuse. However, I did find it fascinating to read these stories from people who had come from different walks of life, different socioeconomic classes, different places on the map who all had this one awful thing in common. I don’t know if I could have handled reading them if they didn’t all have happy endings because there are A LOT of stories packed into this book.
I did find it a little bit monotonous after a while because each story follows the same format. However, I was so impressed with these people and there determination to rise above that I kept reading even when it felt formulaic at times. Some things that really stood out to me were how many people said in their final thoughts something along the lines of, “If God helped me, He can surely help you.” Most of these people really thought they would die without ever getting better. They thought nothing and no one could help them. And here they are sharing their testimony in a book with tons of other people who also thought they were hopeless cases. I just love the common thread throughout that no one is a hopeless case. I also found that in most of the stories, these people had at least one person who was willing to reach a hand out when they felt like there was no way out. A spouse, a parent, a friend, a pastor, a sibling, a child – someone who kept reaching out a hand and never giving up on them. When I finished the book one of my notes I took said, “I want to be the person who always extends a hand.”
It’s not a long book, but I wouldn’t call it “light reading” either. In any case, it was eye opening and encouraging to read, and I always love supporting local authors!
Krystle Goodman is a crazy cat lady, who loves to drink exorbitant amounts of coffee, and read a shocking amount of books. She lives in Benton with her husband Josh, her son Roman, and their two cats Roxanne and Abby. When she isn’t reading, you’ll find her cooking, painting, or watching true crime shows. Watch for Krystle’s book reviews every other Friday. Send fanmail to: [email protected]
See more of Krystle’s reviews at www.mysaline.com/krystle.