With the unscalable odds stacked against them, 12 selfless people share their overcoming stories in the recently released book Courageous Overcomers Anthology (Inspire Publishing 2022). The book is a collection of stories from men and women of the Bahamas who have braved storms and lived to tell the tale to help others move from extreme challenges to victory. The common question asked by hurting folk is, how do you break free of a cycle of tragedy when you don’t know where to find help or what questions to ask if you do? Publisher Teri M. Bethel says that many people are turning around to extend a helping hand to those barely able to stand under the weight of their trials. “It’s easy to minimize pain and sweep it under the rug,” the publisher said. “But if we’re not careful, the seeds we cover with dirt will grow into fruit-bearing trees that produce more of the same.” Mrs. Bethel believes that pain can erupt into something quite dangerous and may become a cycle in a family until someone dares to find help.

Joining her in telling one of his overcoming stories is a former Commander Defence Force, who shares what it took for him as a young man to break away from a wayward lifestyle to become the Commander of the nation’s military. A former nurse and now counselor tells how she survived domestic violence as a young mother and averted self-harm. Another compelling story is the turnaround of a former repeat offender of Her Majesty’s Prison, who believes not having a positive male role model in his home triggered his downward spiral. His life quickly declined when he was kicked out of school at fourteen for retaliating to ongoing bullying, which led to his becoming a drug dealer and later sentenced to 58 years in prison for murder. Then there is the young reporter we came to love from her television shows. Her compelling story takes us on her journey of rising through the ranks to build a media business and become a national and international consultant to private sector agencies and governments.

Though stories of hope for the hurting, they’re not an easy pill to swallow. Two incest survivors (male & female) share their harrowing stories of the pain of being violated by people close to them and their journey to move on to live and love. The old saying that Christians are not perfect, just forgiven, comes to mind with the story of a church leader who makes a rebound after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Now restored to active ministry, the author has helped hundreds of single mothers get their lives back on track to raise healthy children. Also included in the anthology are stories of how two women broke free of their abusive marriages. This book also details one woman’s freedom from the dark arts and the troubling effects of a shotgun wedding on an innocent child. If you’re still of the mindset that sticks and stones hurt, but words don’t, you may want to rethink your position as you read the story of one who broke free of the trauma of words loosely spoken over her as a child.

Copies of Courageous Overcomers are available from participating authors in Nassau, Grand Bahama, and Eleuthera or on amazon.com. To listen to audio samples of each story, visit www.booksbybethel.com/courageous-overcomers, for the author’s contact information.