“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” is a commonly held belief that many Christians hold dear to their hearts. For one family, this statement could not be any truer.
The Ralph Hillman family of Murfreesboro lived a picture perfect life until a mysterious illness called Reye’s syndrome, struck their seven year old son. “Rejoice in the Lord Always” by Bill Conger follows the story of Jeffrey Hillman’s journey living with Reye’s syndrome, which is a potentially fatal illness that affects the brain and liver.
Conger was inspired to write Jeffrey’s story in order to show others the awesome power of God’s presence through faith.
Conger will be in Smithville for a book signing of “Rejoice in the Lord Always: The Jeff Hillman Story” at F. Z. Webb & Sons Gifts Thursday, December 5 from 3:30-7:00 p.m. and Saturday, December 7 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. He will also have a book signing at Justin Potter Library on Saturday, December 14 from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon.
“I think seeing a family face a crisis with faith and an attitude of ‘why not us’ rather than ‘why me’ is in direct contrast to society’s usual victimized mentality,” said Conger. “This attitude shows real strength and inspired me to want to write their story so I could share it with others.”
In an interview with WJLE recently, Conger said he learned of the story in a public speaking class at MTSU taught by Jeff’s father, Ralph. “The family had taken a trip to Canada on a family vacation. On the way back, Jeff started to feel poorly. His folks gave him some children’s aspirin to try and help him feel better but that didn’t help. A few days later he contracted Reye’s syndrome, which was practically an unknown disease at the time. He was later hospitalized at Vanderbilt hospital,” said Conger.
As the story unfolded, Conger learned how the boy experienced a dramatic healing, after coming face to face with death. “I was pretty amazed with this story, just from a writer’s standpoint but in the beginning I was cynical. While I am a Christian and grew up in the church, somehow I expected the miracles of today to be more outstanding like when Moses parted the Red Sea instead of coming in small increments. I was also jaded having seen some shady characters in TV ministries at the time that purported to heal people. I was kind of turned off by that and it made me skeptical. But the more I got to know Ralph and his family and saw that they weren’t charlatans and that they were sincere Christians and walked the Christian walk, I started to believe more and more in their story. It changed my life spiritually and I grew more as a Christian and deeper in my faith as a result of learning more about Jeff,” said Conger.
A Smithville native, Conger is a freelance writer who has penned articles for publications and websites including American Songwriter, CMT.com, VH-1.com, GACTV.com, Bluegrass Unlimited, Homecoming, Fostering Families, and ParentLife. He was a reporter and anchor for WSM AM and a news reporter for local stations in Middle Tennessee. Conger’s first broadcasting job was as a part time staff announcer at WJLE during his high school years in the 1980’s. Conger now lives in Mount Juliet with his wife Alyssa, and son, Gavin Conger. He is a school counselor at DeKalb West School in Liberty.
To learn more about the book visit www.jeffsmiracle.com.
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