Shirley C. Kirwan.

The book, the first that Kirwan has written, will be launched on August 11, 2011.

Speaking exclusively to VINO, the Virgin Islands’ latest author said she was inspired to write the book based on a near death experience that she recently had and noted that it was ‘divine intervention’ that kept her alive when left to die, that same divine intervention also inspired her to write the first of other books to follow.

Her illness, a heart condition caused by a dental infection, was first undetected by doctors and her health had deteriorated to the stage where she suffered a minor stroke and became immobile. But she said she learned to put her trust and confidence in God in all situations and her affliction allowed her the opportunity to deepen her faith in God’s power to heal and despite everyone’s belief that she would not have recovered from such grave illness, she experienced God’s miraculous healing power.

The Healing Hand of God speaks of the author's struggles with a heart ailment that nearly sent her to the grave but prevailed through faith in God.

She said that she was further inspired to write the book to share her testimony on a wider scale to let people know that God’s healing power is still available in this present world if we only reach out in faith to receive it and even though she never wrote a book before, she was able to accomplish it with God’s guidance.

“In the masterful chronicle of The Healing Hand of God, she aptly compresses her six-month critical illness into a few pages of faith-affirming reading. The book synthesizes the certainty of Bible promises with her practical extra-biblical deliverance from the cold arms of death, by God’s mighty hand. The authenticity of this personal testimony is corroborated by eyewitness accounts and medical interventions, showing cumulatively, that while her physical heart was at its weakest her spiritual heart was at its strongest. This testimony has the ability to strengthen the grip of believers in Christ, awaken the conscience of skeptics and cynics and, for the confused struggling in the valley of indecision, be a firm stepping stone for ascent to a mountain-top experience with a miracle-working God. This book is recommended as a powerful and timely resource for all those desiring to have a closer walk with God,” are the editor’s words of summation.

The 50-year-old Ms. Kirwan, who teachers at the Elmore Stoutt High School, said she was even inspired to work on three other books, one of which has already been completed.

Meanwhile, THE HEALING HAND OF GOD: My Story, will be launched at the Government Administration Building Breezeway at 4.30 p.m. on August 11.