More Than My Scars

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (More than My Scars) through Nuts about Books.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.  

I did not know the story of Kechi Okwuchi before I read More Than My Scars. I enjoyed reading her story, but at the end, I felt like I wanted to know the rest of the story.   Like I just got a glimpse of God in action in her life and wanted to know more.  That’s a good thing yes?  To want to know more of her story? 

Learning about More than My Scars

More than My Scars: The Power of Perseverance, unrelenting faith, and deciding what defines you is a 240-page autobiography by Kechi Okwuchi. Baker Books put together this soft-cover tome.  Because of her story, I actually took the time to look up the Golden buzzer she got at America’s Got Talent. 

Kechi is one of two survivors of a plane crash in Nigeria.  She was a 16-year-old Nigerian student at the time and was burnt over most of her body. In More than My Scars she talks about her healing process from that incident.  She takes us up to her win of the Golden Buzzer at AGT. 

Looking Deeper

Three sections divide up Kechi’s autobiography.  Each covers a different part of her recovery process. We are brought into her pain, her dreams, her growing awareness of God’s call on her life, and her family’s love and care for her. 

Each of the sections is introduced with a dark page with white writing.  Very simple and straightforward.

You’ll find the font easy to read and nicely laid out.  A standard adult read.  🙂 

The story of Kechi and her recovery is interesting.  I found her relationship with her family to very tight.  They all had a strong bond with each other. Her mother proved to be stalwart in her healing process.  It was eye-opening to me all the processes a burn victim needs to go through.   I can see how some people would be overcome by the pain and just sink away. This is course, makes Kechi determination to keep fighting a remarkable feat. 

Kudos to Ms. Okwuchi for using the hard things that happened in her life to effectuate change.  Advocating against bullying, speaking on the behalf of various people groups, and speaking of her faith in God. 

Should you read it?

More Than My Scars is worth reading if you are looking for a tale of inspiration and hope.  It is most excellent to see God at work in the lives of his people. It was incredibly inspiring to see God at work as she was healing.  Meeting her best friend’s mom the way she did was all God’s timing. How she learned to make her Mom’s faith her own faith… was most excellent indeed.  So definitely worth the reading. 

I did struggle with two things, well, maybe three.

1. When I finished the story I thought… but there’s got to be more to tell?  This biography leaves so much yet to be said. There’s got to be more to her life than healing from her burns and her showing on AGT. 
2. She expressed anger that her mom didn’t love her with everything she had.  That her mom had the audacity to love Christ more than her.  This caused me to take a step back from the story and I just couldn’t connect well with her.
3. The dreams.  I never really know what to do with the dreams that people have and how they interpret them. Does God work through people’s dreams?  I think so, I wouldn’t want to limit his actions in this.  But he’s also given us his word and that just speaks more clearly.  The lack of God’s word being used as support just didn’t sit well as a result. 

Overall though, a well-written story from the point of the view of the burn victim, and how God used the events in her life to draw her into his heart.