"CHOOSING GOD IN HARD TIMES," by Al Carraway, Cedar Fort, $14.99, 1 hour

Al Carraway was happy with her life and felt she didn’t need religion. But the helmet-wearing elders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were too nice for her to ignore. Even after they gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, Carraway was still sure their message was false — so sure that she decided to take their challenge and live the way God prescribed to prove them wrong, as she shares in “Choosing God in Hard Times.” But that plan quickly unraveled, and she got baptized instead.

Al Fox Carraway presents "Choosing God in Hard Times."
Al Fox Carraway presents "Choosing God in Hard Times." | Rebeca Price, Beka Price Photography

The choice to join the Church of Jesus Christ brought momentous turmoil to Carraway’s life. Shunned by her father and co-workers, she spent a lot of time alone, forsaken by her former friends. Personal revelation inspired her to move to Utah, but that move was also full of discouragement. Although there were times only Carraway and God knew she was making the right decisions, her quest to choose God in hard times eventually brought her a happiness and success that she’d never imagined.

Carraway is a wonderfully relatable speaker, and her gift at conveying emotions such as embarrassment and despair make listening to her a moving experience. This one-hour audio CD can move listeners from belly-aching laughter one moment to empathetical sadness the next as Carraway tells of the deeply personal difficulties she experienced due to her conversion to the restored Church of Jesus Christ.

While the talk is geared to teens and young adults, children and adults can also enjoy and learn from “Choosing God in Hard Times.”

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Carraway is a native of Rochester, New York, and a former resident of Utah. Recently, she and her family moved back to live in her home state.

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