Silver Linings A Memoir

In this riveting, inspiring, and heart-wrenching coming of age account, United Methodist Bishop Leonard E. Fairley recounts his upbringing through the eyes of a young boy who discovers that even the unpredictable na-ture of everyday life is a woven tapestry held together by God's providence. Fairley grew up as one of eight children to a single mother in Laurinburg, North Carolina. And while he experienced a great deal of suffering and difficulty, times that caused him to question life's circumstances and even faith, Fairley shares how he learned ways to straighten out the question marks of his life into the exclamation points of purpose. "I will never accept injustices such as poverty, oppression, and racism as natural realities of life," Fairley writes in the preface. "I have gleaned wonderful lessons through the joys, laughter, tears, heartaches, trials, and friendships shared in these pages. It is, was, and will be these lessons that remind me never to allow the unfairness of life to strip me of a hope that is rooted in God's desire to make life worth living for all his children.