What happens when the person trained to fight discovers that the greatest battle of his life is happening inside his own body?
Living Testimony: Saved by Grace is more than a collection of poems; it is Bradley Thomas's life story told through poetry.
Born in Alabama and later serving in the United States Army as a soldier and drill sergeant, Bradley learned discipline, leadership, responsibility, and how to keep moving forward when circumstances became difficult. But while still serving, his life began to change in ways his military training could not prepare him for.
His body began telling him that something was wrong.
What followed were seasons of serious health challenges involving his lungs, temporary vision loss, a serious heart condition, hospital stays, medical procedures, surgeries, and uncertainty about what his future would look like. After leaving the Army, another battle emerged when problems with his hip eventually resulted in a total hip replacement.
The soldier who had been trained to push through adversity found himself fighting battles that determination alone could not overcome.
Through fear, pain, frustration, unanswered questions, recovery, and change, Bradley's faith was tested, but it also became an anchor. When he did not have all the answers, he continued turning to God for the strength and grace to face another day.
Writing became a place where Bradley could give words to what he was experiencing. His prayers, questions, fears, pain, faith, and victories became poetry.
Living Testimony: Saved by Grace takes readers through those seasons from the moments when the trials began, and his body first signaled that something was wrong, through the battles that followed, and ultimately toward survival, purpose, gratitude, and grace.
Bradley does not share his story because his life has been perfect or because every question has been answered. He shares it because he knows what it means to hurt, to be afraid of what comes next, to have your strength tested, and still find a reason to keep going.
These poems are the scars, prayers, battles, and victories of a man who is still standing.
His story is about what he endured.
But even more, it is about the God who carried him through.
He is a survivor.
He is a living testimony.
And he is surviving by grace.
