The Unseen Hand: The Angela Tran Story
As told to Bob Cretney
This August our biography of the month is The Unseen Hand: The Angela Tran Story.
Have a look inside the featured book of the month!
“When communism was imposed on Vietnam during the 1970’s, Angela Tran’s parents decided that she should flee from the country alone. She was only sixteen years old.
As Bob Cretney follows the varied events of Angela’s life, the reader will discover that the hand of God is one that will never let go.
This does not mean that life was going to be easy for Angela. As one of the “boat people”, she initially found herself stranded in the South China Sea with over four hundred hopeful emigrants and a captain who had lost his way. The reader will discover how God spoke to her through this incident. Her steps are then traced through a Bankok refugee camp until she finally reached Canada.
In Canada, valued help was received from Bob Cretney, his wife, and the local believers. The book also considers how Angela adapted to the many cultural changes, and reveals how she met her husband.
The chapter entitled “Dark Secrets” relates Angela’s struggles when depression struck. She states, “I would ask myself, ‘How can I get out of this cloudiness that has engulfed me?’” Following this, how would she cope in her fight against cancer?
She observes, “I escaped from a cavern of sorrow, but I know I could not have accomplished what I did without God’s hand upon me”.
The focus upon Angela’s conversion and her battles along the rocky roads of life are woven in with a personal appeal to any non-Christian reader to trust in the Saviour. Bible verses with reference to salvation are carefully employed. This feature makes it a suitable book for presenting to those who are not Christians. The Unseen Hand is also enhanced with relevant full colour photos.
Angela’s purpose in relating her experiences is plainly stated: “…that you will come to realize that the God whom I love is there for you when you face seemingly unbearable circumstances in your life”.
~ This book review was originally published on in Believer’s Magazine, April 2010, by AC.
Available online from Gospel Folio Press. Only $7.99 in August 2016!