Sometimes, life s circumstances just don t seem fair. It can appear that despite how much we dream, pray, and set goals, our plans still fail to manifest how we desire them to. If we're honest, it can even feel as though God has completely forgotten about us and doesn't t desire us to succeed. Moments like these can be frustrating. They cause us to feel hopelessness, self-pity, and doubt. However, in the midst of the many disappointments, trials, and tribulations life may present, there is one thing we can hold on to: Everything we endure has a purpose. God has a specific plan for our lives and according to His Word, He is committed to making sure that we are prosperous and successful in all that we were created to do. In the most tumultuous of times, we must remember to walk in the faith of what we know, rather than what we can see. Difficult times are not to break us down, but instead, God allows them so that we can learn more about ourselves and the purpose of our creation. It is in those moments that we learn the true importance of life. At the age of fourteen, Author Rey Grandoit was told that he would never walk again. With dreams of becoming an NBA basketball player, this wasn't exactly the news young Ray wanted to hear. Rey had plans to change the trajectory of his life and the lives of those closest to his heart. As a teenager, he often felt that there was no way he could achieve his goals in a wheelchair. In this riveting and life-changing story, Rey shares how his experience with learning how to adjust to his new lifestyle led him to understand his purpose, position, and duty to the Kingdom of God. My Legs May Be Paralyzed, but My Mind Isn t is a real-life story about the many lessons Rey learned along the way to becoming the entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and Kingdom impactor he is today. His success and accomplishments were not without sacrifice, however, Rey can now look back and realize that every moment was worth it. In this amazing read, you will be given a front-row seat to Rey s transition back to Christ and be encouraged in the fact that no matter what life has thrown your way, you can and will become everything God has designed you to be!

About the Book: The famous novelist Orhan Pamuk has said – “I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.” StoryMirror has been instrumental in changing the lives of people by providing a unique platform for writers and readers alike. Storytelling or reading stories – transitions one into another realm, to explore various shades of human emotions. Each story teaches us something, makes us ponder and provides an opportunity for some soulful reflection. In this hectic and monotonous life, a storybook can help us dream, make us believe in fairies, keep us lively, give us hope and some stories can even give us the courage to deal with our day-to-day problems. It is rightly said by George Saunders, “When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you.” It is a difficult task to choose a handful of stories from the plethora of interesting content on StoryMirror but the very best stories have been selected and brought to you by the means of this book. They are a result of the hard work and determination of promising writers. The writers have questioned their imagination and desire for writing and presented to us their most imaginative, engrossing, fascinating and gripping creations. This collection of short stories will provide an opportunity for the readers to access the best stories and also bear ample evidence to the vast corpus of work on the StoryMirror website. We hope it touches your heart and soul. Hope you have a great reading experience!

The life, birth, and early years of 'the Fariyaq'—the alter ego of the Arab intellectual Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq Leg over Leg recounts the life, from birth to middle age, of “the Fariyaq,” alter ego of Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, a pivotal figure in the intellectual and literary history of the modern Arab world. The always edifying and often hilarious adventures of the Fariyaq, as he moves from his native Lebanon to Egypt, Malta, Tunis, England, and France, provide the author with grist for wide-ranging discussions of the intellectual and social issues of his time, including the ignorance and corruption of the Lebanese religious and secular establishments, freedom of conscience, women’s rights, sexual relationships between men and women, the manners and customs of Europeans and Middle Easterners, and the differences between contemporary European and Arabic literatures, all the while celebrating the genius and beauty of the classical Arabic language. Volumes Three and Four see the peripatetic Fariyaq fall in love and convert to Catholicism for twenty-four hours in order to marry. Although the narrative revolves around a series of debates over the nature of male-female relationships, opportunities also arise for disquisitions on the physical and moral significance of such diverse topics as the buttocks, the unreliability of virginity tests, and the human capacity for self-delusion. Lengthy stays in England and France allow for animadversions on the table manners and sexual aberrations of their citizens, but the discussion, whether it involve dance-halls, pleasure gardens, or poetry, almost always ends up returning to gender relations. Akin to Sterne and Rabelais in his satirical outlook and technical inventiveness, al-Shidyaq produced in Leg over Leg a work that is unique and unclassifiable. It was initially widely condemned for its attacks on authority, its religious skepticism, and its “obscenity,” and later editions were often abridged. This is the first complete English translation of this groundbreaking work.