I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Tony Rossi of “Christopher Close Up.” He wrote a lovely review as well. Here is his review:

Beautiful Threads of Grace Are Woven Through Life, Even in Times of Suffering

“Jesus, help me, please,” prayed a then-teenage Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle in a state of terror as her fiancé Matthew (not his real name) forced a gun into her hand and tried to get her to kill him.

Matthew was an ex-Marine and Vietnam veteran who had been a leader in O’Boyle’s Catholic parish and she believed that he would make a good husband. But then something snapped inside him and he suffered a nervous breakdown. With several guns, including a machine gun, in his home, he threatened to kill O’Boyle and her family if she ever left him. Fearful of what would happen, she stayed put, but kept trying to come up with ways that she could safely escape this situation.

One day, Matthew lunged at her, forced a pistol into her hand, got her finger on the trigger, and pushed her to shoot him. Tears streamed down O’Boyle’s face because, even though she wanted to get away from Matthew, she didn’t want to kill him. That’s when she prayed, “Jesus, help me, please.”

During an interview on “Christopher Closeup” about her new memoir “The Kiss of Jesus,” O’Boyle recalled, “Jesus did help me because [Matthew] got up immediately off my lap, threw the gun against the wall and ran out of the room screaming all kinds of crazy things. He came right back, picked up the gun and put it in his pocket. I had to sit there and not make one sound, one move, one blink, one breath – and then try to stay clear of him until I could figure out what to do next.”

Thankfully, O’Boyle did finally get away from Matthew and move on with her life – and she believes that Jesus was there to help and guide her every step of the way. But that doesn’t mean her road was trouble-free or pain-free. In fact, it was often just the opposite…

 

You can see the entire review and listen to our half hour chat here.