Outrageous Grace by Grace Fabian

Outrageous Grace by Grace Fabian ISBN-13: 978-1-935507-08-6 Trade Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: Ambassador International Released: 2009, 2010, 2011

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover:
My husband, a missionary translator in Papua New Guinea, was murdered while sitting at his desk translating the love chapter into the Nabak language. As the first witness on the scene, I soon learned that the murderer was a Nabak man. We had grown to love the Nabak-speaking people and were endeavoring to translate the scriptures into their language.

This memoir tells the story of my four children and me wrestling with grief and disorientation. It speaks of our quest for spiritual answers and of the difficulty of meshing two different worlds the culture of the Nabak people on the island nation of Papua New Guinea and of my Christian heritage from the United States. We faced the challenges of forgiving the murderer, rocks thrown onto our roof and through the windows, eviction notices, and twenty months later a court case.

Then we discovered that God is orchestrating an amazing story of redemption. I, even in my most creative and spiritual moments, never could have conjured up the story that came from this tragedy and our family's forgiveness.


My Review:
Outrageous Grace is a memoir by a Wycliffe Bible translator about her and her husband's work translating the Bible for the Nabak people in Papua New Guinea. Grace talked briefly about their childhoods and why they choose to be translators, the challenges of translating the Bible and how they did it, and about her husband's death and the troubles and forgiveness that happened afterward. There were some black and white photos of the people mentioned in the story.

Overall, the story was very interesting and well-written. I'd recommend this book.

I mainly read it because I was interested in learning more about the Bible translation process, and this book did answer many of my questions. However, Grace also talked about her husband's murder and where the path of forgiveness led her, her family, and the Nabak people. If you've ever questioned why God would allow His workers to die doing His work, the events that happened after her husband's death help to show that God wasn't caught off guard. God knew the impact her husband's death and her forgiveness would have on the Nabak people and used it to bring people to Him.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
A white-collared kingfisher swooped down, landing on a branch of the pine tree just outside my office window. Its azure blue feathers contrasted with the brilliant purplish-red color of the bougainvillea. That thorny vine draped itself around the pine branches like strings of Christmas tree lights. "Is there really a pine tree under there?" a friend had once asked.

Many unusual creatures like kangaroos, leatherback turtles and flashlight fish live on this island of Papua New Guinea connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

I favored the exotic birds. I called them "feathered friends," mainly because they kept the insect population down, though they did more than minimize my chances of contracting malaria. There was something reassuring about their throaty notes and the way they glided through the air. They inserted an element of pleasure and peace into my high-energy schedule by their glorious songs and brilliant plumage.