Living and Dying, Heartache and Joy: A Search for Love and Purpose in Life

This compelling account of a woman’s spiritual journey begins on a beach in Southern California in the 1950s and stretches to the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, where the author’s mother died in 2004. The memoir is penned through the lens of Liza’s relationship with—and the life and death of—each of her parents and her parents-in-law, and as she looks back on the lifelong pathway that God set before her, she openly discusses how prone she was to miss the point of her Christian faith. In the final chapters of Dying to Live, the author is also faced with the tragic loss of a friend and two life-threatening trials in her husband’s life. What emerges is a realization that life is a work in progress, as Liza continues to learn what it means to follow Christ, to put her trust in Him, and to die to self and live for Him. Dying to Live is an engaging read, a book of hope and spiritual grace that will leave you examining your own interior life and Christian faith.

: Liza Piatt is a former teacher in both public and private Christian schools and was the administrator of a homeschool group in the 1990s when she was a homeschooling mom. She currently leads a weekly Bible study for a small group of women. Liza grew up in Arizona and moved to Claremont, California, where she attended college and graduate school, earning a BA and MA in French, and where she also met her husband, Tim. Married for almost 50 years, they live in Simi Valley, California. They have three grown daughters, one beloved son-in-law, and a ridiculously cute two year old grandson.