Book excerpt: Valerie Rose is an ordinary, middle-aged, middle-class, working woman whose willingness to share her own oppositional view on faith, religion, the world's filth, and building a relationship with God in the midst of it all is real, raw, inspiring, and encourages others to do the same. She is a daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, wife, mother, stepmother, nana, and friend whose passion is to inspire others to turn their frowns upside down and embrace God's love through all life's trials and tribulations. Using her own personal struggles in building a relationship with God, Valerie shows how recognizing God's love for her in the midst of anger, agony, awkwardness, abandonment, alcoholism, and abuse helped her to replace hatred with healing. She overcame abuse and abandonment, fears, hurts, and other hang-ups to go on teaching and encouraging others to learn and grow. Valerie offers life-transforming insights not only about how to overcome hatred, hurts, hang-ups, and painful circumstances many identify with, but also how to heal, grow, and embrace God's love from those experiences and then help others to do the same. Her personal stories will inspire you to see your own hatred, hurts, and hang-ups that have built barriers around your heart and will help you to begin seeking healing, grace, and love; to recognize God loves all of you and He is there for you.