The Message: Live Life, Treasure True Love, Find Faith

A message from God of understanding life and finding a purpose in it, to bring you a reminder of the wonderful gift of life that you're given each day. To treasure the importance of true love and focus on another one of God's great gifts, marriage.

As you read, you'll not only be inspired, motivated, and encouraged, but you'll also be brought to faith and learn that you're really not walkin' through this life alone. You'll understand that you're able to lay all your problems, stress, and struggles in God's hands. In him, you'll find fulfillment and peace. When you're done reading this book, you'll truly see just how blessed, special, and important you really are. You'll have a whole new outlook and view on life.

I wrote this book to share a message to all those who read it. I want to bring a whole new outlook and better understanding on life and to try and make change in this world for the better, to bring a sense of peace and happiness to others. I would like to share with you a testament to the beauty of life. As you read this book I hope that in some way, somehow something will jump at you and truly make a difference in your life. I hope you will be moved and touched by this book. This book will truly show you a whole new look on life. I promise you and guarantee that after reading this book you’ll start waking up and seeing life in a completely different way. Life is so much more than what your eyes are seeing and I’m going to try and bring that to your attention. You’re going to get to see what life is really all about by bringing new hope, love, and Faith into your lives! I believe that this book is just the beginning for me...Change is the essence of life so know that change doesn’t begin’ at the whitehouse, It begins in your house. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become. If you could have seen who I use to be before the change you would’ve seen a shy, sad, lonely and lost soul. A broken heart, wounded spirit and battle scars. You would have seen a man who had stumbled and was ready to face defeat. Then one day I fully turned my life to God and I found the courage to stand on my own two feet once again. I felt refreshed and recharged. I felt a boost of life and love from God, running through my veins. I had received passion and grace. I now feel alive and how good it feels to finally break them chains that were holding me down.
I started writing this book when I was 15 years old and It took me over 7 years to complete. I was born and raised in Rome, N.Y. I was baptized as a baby and took my communion. I attended Catholic school up until the 7th grade. I knew about the Bible and attended church occasionally but at the time I wasn't obsessed with my faith like I am now. I acted like a kid, played sports, mostly soccer and basketball. I liked having fun, hanging out with friends and I was always looking for a good laugh. But once I hit high school in the 9th grade my whole life changed. I went to Rome Free Academy with an estimated 2,000 students. My high school experience didn’t start off well. In my second month as a freshmen in October of 2005 my grandfather passed away from battling with Pancreatic Cancer. His 3 months of suffering and his loss hit me hard. I began taking life more seriously after that. Knowing you could be here today and gone tomorrow. I began observing and noticing the way people acted and treated others in school and out. A year later I completed my confirmation and I began reading and studying the Bible a lot more. I started going to church more regularly and I tried to pray and talk to God as often as I could. -Derek M. Puma