Diana Oestreich - Waging Peace: One Soldiers Story of Putting Love First

Waging Peace is truly touching and inspiring. Diana Oestreichs story of being on the battlefield, surrounded by all sorts of life-threatening unknowns, yet choosing to shed fear and look through purely humane glasses made all the difference in the world. I sincerely hope others will follow in her footsteps and help add more smiles and spread more peace.
Abe Al-Qudah, former president of the Islamic Center of Twin Ports

Diana tells a powerful story about faith and love. Her journey of self-discovery and fighting to stand up and live her beliefs is truly inspiring. This book made me smile, cry, and feel hope all at the same time. Dianas book encourages us all to evaluate our ability to live by our own moral code.
Beth Al-Qudah, member, Islamic Center of Twin Ports

Waging Peace should be required reading for all those committed to creating a world rooted in an ethic of love. It is a poignant story of deep personal transformation forged through the trauma and horror of war and shaped by the power of relationship. Oestreich invites us to journey with her as she learns and then lives the value of peace by introducing us to the people and places who served as her guides. What a heartbreakingly beautiful gift it is to walk alongside her.
Rev. Jen Bailey, founder and executive director, Faith Matters Network

Love never fails. Oestreichs Waging Peace invites us to believe those words as never before. The world is barricaded behind walls of shame and otherizing, and only tender love can scale those walls. On the other side, we find our shared humanity, a reverence for complexity, and a longing to be practitioners of this dangerous hope that only chooses love. This book helps you scale the walls.
Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., founder of Homeboy Industries, author of the New York Times bestseller, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

A courageous, moving, true story by a brave, truthful woman, about what it means to be a Christian, a soldier, and a peacemaker. Diana Oestreich breaks down all manner of falsehoods, telling tales that are, on one page, profoundly inspiring and, on the next page, deeply distressing. We need many more such witnesses in the world today. What a gift to us all that Diana has written this book.
Lee C. Camp, author of Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians, and host of the Tokens Show

Diana is a rare gem who shows up authentically in person, online, and in her writing. If, like me, you feel far from war, this is a must-read. Waging Peace is about creating longer tables instead of building higher fences, and as Christ-followers, isnt that the whole point?
Manda Carpenter, author of Space: An Invitation to Create Sustainable Rhythms of Work, Play, and . Rest

Dianas story of leaning into the extravagantly dangerous reality of loving her enemies as a soldier in the Iraq War is a story for our time. With gut-wrenching honesty, Diana takes on the overly simplified, preachy admonition to love your enemy that so many of us learned in Sunday school and shows us how difficult and worthwhile it is to leave our prison of self-preservation and step into the terrifying freedom of loving without limits.
Courtney Christenson, writer, activist, peacemaker, and founder of Sparks and Matches

Books are believed to be most impactful when they have the potential to change the heart of the person reading them. But when the words of a book have the power to change the trajectory of a whole generation, to take the wounds of violence and war and pick up weapons of peace and love, thats when we all should turn our night-lights on, stretch open the pages, and dive in with a posture to be changed and humbled. Diana Oestreich hasnt just written a book; shes given us a map. From real experiences on the front lines of the Iraq War to a redemption story that will help lead us all to a more whole world. Forever humbled.
Toni J. Collier, peacemaker and founder of Broken Crayons Still Color

Waging Peace is an invitation to take the life-changing love of God seriously. With vivid stories and honest meditations from the deserts of Iraq to wooden church pews of the Midwest, Diana brings us on her journey of dismantling tightly held notions of God and country. This book will embrace your humanity and never let you go. For those who wonder if theres a way out of hate and violence, for those who ache for permission to see the fullness of God beyond borders or bloodlines, this book is for you. In a volatile world full of hate, violence, and war, Waging Peace shows that another way is possible. Rooted in love and told with unflinching honesty, this book is a compass guiding us out of hate, pointing toward a God big enough for us all.
Kayla Craig, founder and co-host of Upside Down Podcast

In this warm, compelling, and provocative book, Diana Oestreich offers us her own deeply personal story as an invitation to live a generous life governed by love. Prepare to be drawn into her journey, and both inspired and challenged by her choices.
Todd Deatherage, co-founder of The Telos Group

As Christian nationalism swells across America, and as American Christians are encouraged to militarize their faith, we all deeply need the voice of Diana Oestreich, an American military veteran who has dedicated her post-war life to peacemaking. From her desperate mission to save a baby boys life in small-town Iraq, to her commitment to raising her white and black sons to fight for justice, Oestreich inspires, encourages, and urges us all to make the sometimes-difficult choice to love first, even in war.
Angela Denker, author of Red State Christians

This book could change our country, starting with me and you. Peacemakers run toward conflict, and thats exactly what Diana does in Waging Peace. Rarely do we change our minds on divisive issues without personal stories and friendship. Every word expanded my humanity and heart. Im with Diana, squarely planting my feet in love.
April L. Diaz, founder and lead warrior, Ezer + Co.

Diana Oestreich has written a brave book. She deploys to Iraq as a soldier, comes home to Minnesota as a peacemaker, and returns to Iraq as an activist. Through stories of everyday moments as a young medic and then a mom, Oestreich describes a journey of reconciling

deep beliefs in God, country, and family with realities of trauma, fear, and injustice. This is what it means to lead an examined life.
Deborah Fallows, co-author of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America

God wasnt calling out my bad theology; God was confronting my unlove. This line from Dianas book evoked in me an ouch and a hallelujah at the same time. Youll encounter a lot of those moments throughout this prophetic but gentle call to love. I think if the church really understood what loving your neighbor looks like as Diana beautifully and heartbreakingly describes it, we might really see peace on earth. Thank you, Diana, for gifting us with a labor of love.
Susie Gamez, speaker and minister

Diana Oestreich is all things bold and courageous as she leads our culture into a conversation we so desperately need. If you want to learn how to see the world through a lens of love, uproot deeply embedded cultural narratives, and gain the tools to wage peace in the name of Jesus, then read this book. If we lean into this story and learn from Dianas example, I truly believe our world will never be the same.
Hannah Gronowski, speaker, author, founder & CEO of Generation Distinct

This book is for those who want to learn how to truly live, not just survive. Oestreich invites us into a dangerous hope. Her compelling story and unique perspective from both sides of war dare us to believe that we have something extravagant to give instead of something priceless to protect. Her poignant invitation to choose preemptive love over fear imparts to us the courage to face whats broken first in ourselves and then in the systems affecting those around us. She knows firsthand that only love has the power to change us and our hurting world, so like a neon sign this timely book points us to the way of waging peace through extravagant love.