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A Paralyzing Redemption
“You have a broken neck.” You are paralyzed from the neck down.” “You will never walk again.” Those three statements altered the course of Brian Ziegler’s life forever. No matter what you are going through, this book will unequivocally change the way you view Jesus and the way He answers our “desperate prayers.” Be prepared! This is not your average Christian memoir… It is raw, real and authentic. Brian holds nothing back in this remarkable story of God’s ultimate plan to rebuild each one of us in His own image.
168 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 31, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 26, 2017
“A Paralyzing Redemption” by Brian Ziegler is an the incredibly inspiring Christian memoir that is difficult to put down and cannot leave its readers unmoved and unchanged. Brian tells with raw honesty and gripping emotion of his journey to God in an account which is nothing less than a true-life story of the Prodigal Son. At the beginning of the book, Brian was not much different from scores of young men in any college across the country: twenty-one years old, handsome, a promising future playing basketball, the sport he loved, plenty of buddies, girlfriends, and a loving family. He led a life of partying, goofing around, experimenting with alcohol and nightclubs, and having a rollicking good time with no interest whatsoever in God or saving his immortal soul. One horrific evening changed everything for Brian. Forever.
After waking up in a hospital following an harrowing accident, Brian learned he was paralyzed from the neck down. One instant was all it had taken to shatter his life. But God's most beautiful masterpieces are often sculptured from broken pieces. He had a magnificent plan for Brian.
Of course, Brian didn't know this. Even if he had, he was nowhere ready to embrace God's designs in those early agonizing days and weeks and months in the hospital. It would take a lot of suffering and blows to convince him of God's love. Thus the reader follows him (or rather, holds his hand and joins him) on his incredible and pain-filled path to God.
As if being a quadriplegic at twenty-one years old isn't bad enough, Brian's life continues to plunge from one disaster to another. EVERYTHING seems to go wrong for him and I found myself cringing, and crying, for much of the story. It was difficult to put the book down, and my own daily problems shrank to minuscule proportions while reading it.
For the story content and the impact it had on me, I would definitely award this book 5 stars. So why am I giving it 4? This was one of those books I agonized over how to rate, but in the end, I could not give it 5. Sadly, the book is riddled with typos, wrong words, formatting mistakes, misspellings, and other editing issues that kept jerking me out of the story and making me wish Crosslink Publishing had edited it properly. While Brian certainly has an amazing story to tell, his publisher should've caught the glaring errors and polished the content professionally. Some paragraphs were so unclear in meaning that I had to read them several times to figure out where the scene took place, what people were present, and what on earth was going on. Many times towards the end, I was unsure if I was meant to picture Brian in a wheelchair, or on his feet with a walking aid. He would use terms like “I walked through the door”, and since he did regain some use of his legs eventually, I didn't know if he meant it literally or not. It really broke the flow and totally threw me. Other times, characters would speak or do something in a scene when I had no idea they were even there. I had to reread whole chunks to get the new image in my mind. It was very frustrating and marred my reading experience. There's nothing worse than being deeply connected with a heartbreaking scene, crying my eyes out, then suddenly being smacked in the face with a huge glaring editorial error. Talk about destroying the mood.
I wish the publisher would fix these things and release a new edition. Apart from that, this is a beautiful, heroic and inspiring book that I highly recommend.
(Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookCrash.com book review program., which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.)
After waking up in a hospital following an harrowing accident, Brian learned he was paralyzed from the neck down. One instant was all it had taken to shatter his life. But God's most beautiful masterpieces are often sculptured from broken pieces. He had a magnificent plan for Brian.
Of course, Brian didn't know this. Even if he had, he was nowhere ready to embrace God's designs in those early agonizing days and weeks and months in the hospital. It would take a lot of suffering and blows to convince him of God's love. Thus the reader follows him (or rather, holds his hand and joins him) on his incredible and pain-filled path to God.
As if being a quadriplegic at twenty-one years old isn't bad enough, Brian's life continues to plunge from one disaster to another. EVERYTHING seems to go wrong for him and I found myself cringing, and crying, for much of the story. It was difficult to put the book down, and my own daily problems shrank to minuscule proportions while reading it.
For the story content and the impact it had on me, I would definitely award this book 5 stars. So why am I giving it 4? This was one of those books I agonized over how to rate, but in the end, I could not give it 5. Sadly, the book is riddled with typos, wrong words, formatting mistakes, misspellings, and other editing issues that kept jerking me out of the story and making me wish Crosslink Publishing had edited it properly. While Brian certainly has an amazing story to tell, his publisher should've caught the glaring errors and polished the content professionally. Some paragraphs were so unclear in meaning that I had to read them several times to figure out where the scene took place, what people were present, and what on earth was going on. Many times towards the end, I was unsure if I was meant to picture Brian in a wheelchair, or on his feet with a walking aid. He would use terms like “I walked through the door”, and since he did regain some use of his legs eventually, I didn't know if he meant it literally or not. It really broke the flow and totally threw me. Other times, characters would speak or do something in a scene when I had no idea they were even there. I had to reread whole chunks to get the new image in my mind. It was very frustrating and marred my reading experience. There's nothing worse than being deeply connected with a heartbreaking scene, crying my eyes out, then suddenly being smacked in the face with a huge glaring editorial error. Talk about destroying the mood.
I wish the publisher would fix these things and release a new edition. Apart from that, this is a beautiful, heroic and inspiring book that I highly recommend.
(Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookCrash.com book review program., which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.)
March 30, 2024
I know Brian personally and have heard his story many times, but finally decided to pick up his book and read it. I learned more about his walk of faith and how his accident made him the man he is today. The book could use a bit more editing, but it really didn't distract from his life story. Pick this up if you want to see a man who has beat the odds, changed the direction of his life and has truly become a man of God.
February 22, 2024
Wowwwww! Literally this book! 🤯 just a “normal” kid living it up and in the blink of an eye, change happens. And it wasn’t a change that was little, this was life altering. Being told you will never walk again, hitting rock bottom, to becoming a man of God! I personally know this man, and being asked if he would change the path of his life, would he? & he says “no”—sure it sounds wild to not want to go back to accident day and be able to change it all, but if he did that, then I would have never gotten to meet him because he his path would be different! •let that sink in• the doctors told him he would never walk again, but with God’s healing power every Sunday, I see God’s grace & healing— Brian is one amazing guy. What he tells in this story, and is living daily—if you’re not a believer, I recommend you come to church with him! 🩷 God’s plan, and the direct of life He puts us in, it is not because it’s our plan, but His! Trust Him!
September 5, 2017
There's no doubt that Brian has a story to tell, and he has a writer's voice. Those are pluses. What are minuses for me are that he clearly didn't have anyone edit or proofread it. There are numerous typos, an overuse of quotation marks, and some organizational confusion that could easily have been avoided. I'd have liked a little more medical knowledge about quadriplegia, especially the symptoms of a C5 injury.
I love Brian's honesty and authenticity. He doesn't try to pretend to be someone he's not and has clearly been on a spiritual journey that has drawn him closer to Christ. His heart to share his faith shines through.
I love Brian's honesty and authenticity. He doesn't try to pretend to be someone he's not and has clearly been on a spiritual journey that has drawn him closer to Christ. His heart to share his faith shines through.
June 5, 2024
Absolutely amazing story! So proud to have Brian as my daughter's pastor. His story is a true miracle from God.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews