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Broken Before God: When Faith and Calamity Collide

Broken Before God: When Faith and Calamity Collide

Last updated on: April 29, 2025 at 10:00 am by Frank Viola

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Broken Before God: When Faith and Calamity Collide 2025-04-22T09:03:36-04:00 Frank Viola

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As most of you know, I train authors through a premium online training called SCRIBE.

We’ve gone on record stating that 98% of those who go through the SCRIBE training get their book written and published within a year. Brandt Johnson is one example.

Today I caught up with Brandt to discuss his new book, which released today.

Enjoy!

There have been a plethora of books written on God and calamity, what provoked you to write your book?

During recovery, I struggled with several spiritual issues that I thought I understood. My dad encouraged me to write my experiences down as a way to process my thoughts. So I started writing to keep track of the things I was learning through my recovery.

I had recently completed your online SCRIBE Author Training so I started following your suggestions as well. My journal turned into this book.

How long did it take you to the write the book from the very beginning to the time you turned the manuscript into the publisher (or printer)?

It was about a year-and-a-half from typing my first words to submitting my final draft to the printer. Well over half of that was editing, rewriting, and reediting.

Most readers want to know the answer to this question when they consider buying the book – what’s in it for me? Why do I want to spend the money and time on buying your book? What am I going to get out of it? Please answer this question.

You will get an honest and vulnerable look into the confusion that often hits Christians who experience trauma. Trauma often releases cognitive dissonance when we see a loving God allowing horrific things to happen. When they happen to you, it is easy to question God.

You will hear my story, but the narrative portions of the book could be anyone’s story. Each chapter contains lessons I learned from my experience that God made clear to me through this accident and recovery. These lessons calmed the spiritual storm raging in my head.

As far as your time investment goes, it is a short book at only 110 pages. The values from the lessons learned are timeless and applicable to anyone’s calamity.

Share 3 “aha” moments that struck you the most while writing the story in the book and conveying your message to readers.

First: God’s will is not hidden. In fact we have been given everything we need for life and godliness. I found out what that actually looks like.

Second: When I realized that God had spared my life, I was desperate to know “Why?” Though I did not hear an audible answer, I knew that my role never changed. I am here to give glory and honor to God.

Third: It is easy to pretend to be a Christian. This accident showed me that one day the rubber will hit the road and your true beliefs will show through.

In what specific ways have you come to know Jesus Christ differently than you did before your accident?

Most of my life, I was under the allure of merit-based Christianity. After my accident I was 100% dependent on others, which was humbling to the core. That helped me realize that I could do nothing to make God love me more than he already did.

This realization released me from the burden of attempting to follow a law-based gospel. I saw that Jesus was there to relieve my load, not make it heavier.

For those who don’t read too many books, give us a two or three paragraph summary of the key points you make in the book.

When Christians face trauma of any kind, it is easy to become angry at God for letting this happen—that is not a sin. Look at David and how often he blamedGod for his trials, and David was called a man after God’s own heart. This led to his broken and contrite heart.

Brokenness may appear to be a weakness or vulnerability, but that is the glory of it. In our weakness, we are made strong through Christ. We need to recognize our place before God in every area of our lives including the times we are close to Him as well as the times we feel very distant from him.

Finally, God never called us to be a success. He called us to be faithful whether we are successful or not.

What would you say to an atheist or agnostic who has had an accident similar to yours and they survived it also, but with no thought to Christ? (The true God is known in and through Jesus Christ.)

I would recount my story and be very clear on attributing my survival to God’s power. I can share my story and my understanding of God’s work within my story and then let God take over. My prayer is that whoever hears it, whether atheist, agnostic, or professing Christian, God will become more real to them.

How can people get your book?

It is available worldwide on Amazon with the audiobook coming soon.

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