Shattered Pieces Everywhere: How I Found True Joy in My Most Broken Moments

In this heart-breaking and inspiring memoir, Christina Maria Martinez shares how events that could've been fatal were, instead, the beginning of something wonderful.

Raised in a family struggling to stay afloat despite domestic violence, substance abuse and time spent in a children's home, young Christina felt like the ugly duckling. Even as she found more stability in her teen years, Christina felt shy and insecure.

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Maybe if she felt beautiful she'd feel loved.

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Then Christina met Tomas. As their relationship bloomed, so did her hopes for the future. That's when the unthinkable happened. A car crash sent her through a faulty windshield, nearly killing her. Confined to a hospital bed with severe lacerations to her face, Christina wondered, Why wasn't I grateful for what I had?

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Other questions haunted her: Would Tomas still care for her? Could anyone love her the way she looked now? In her darkest moment, she wished the accident had killed her.

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But friends and family rallied, preventing her from wallowing in pity. They helped her find strength to push past the pain, and eventually love herself despite her scars.

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Shattered Pieces Everywhere tells the story of a woman totally transformed--physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Now a wife and mother, Christina draws courage from her scars, wearing them like a warrior. She's spoken and sung before huge crowds and been the public face of multiple companies she and her husband have built. When she steps into the spotlight, she remembers her scars, knowing she is a better person for them. Like the woman Elizabeth Edwards described in her book, Resilience: The New Afterword: "She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails."

Excerpt from Shattered Pieces Everywhere:

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"Here's the thing about dark places. Sometimes, we don't get out of them by pulling ourselves out. Sometimes, it's just a simple step that keeps us around one more day. Then one more. Then another. Sometimes, it's just piecing together a string of "barely making it through" days until we get to a day that's okay. Which leads to days that are good. And then, eventually, when you least expect it, you find your way to great days..."