To tell our story would literally take a book.--Unfortunately, the book is not completed yet! (Check back soon!) In the meantime, I would like to leave you with a brief summery about ourselves.

My name is Maria, I am 31 years old. My husband, Daniel, & I have been blessed with four beautiful children.
Over the last 7 years we have faced many difficult challenges. After some wonderful years in missionary work in Brazil, Japan and Taiwan, we returned to the U.S. to get medical help for my husband. For several years we rode the medical roller coaster as Daniel battled with a non-malignant, but life-threatening tumor.

Then I fought my own battle with cancer & afterward developed fibromyalgia, a chronic painful, disabling condition which I have struggled with for four years now. Though no longer life-threatening for the present, Daniel’s tumor continues to be a problem, causing pain & discomfort.

In addition to the physical strains of pain & fatigue, or other symptoms of a difficult illness, there is a vast array of psychological and emotional challenges that accompany them: fear, uncertainty, discouragement, hopelessness, & depression--just to name a few. But for every battle, there can be a victory. For every pain, there can be relief. For every fear, there can be peace. For every sorrow, He gives us His comfort.

Our story is a journey through many ups & downs, with amazing twists & turns. We have been richly blessed in our lives, as God has poured out His grace & faith sufficiently to meet our many needs. Some of life’s purest treasures are mined in the caves of affliction. Precious gems are not formed in the sunshine. Those jewels of greatest value are found in the deep, dark places of the earth. So it is in our own lives, we have learned.

God did not place us in those hard, dark places to abandon us. He has faith in us, & with His help, we retrieve the rarest treasures. And when we come into the light again, we bring with us the priceless “treasures of darkness.”

In this book we hope to share with you the many treasures we have gained from our journeys through our “mines of affliction.”