Benjamin Hall was purposeful in his determination to live.  “My God, you were gone,” said his surgeon, Dr. Grygorovskyy.  “You shouldn’t be here. It is a miracle that you are.”

A missile attack nearly killed Hall as he was covering the war in Ukraine for Fox News in 2022.  One year after the near-fatal attack, he was back on the job, and 614 days from the attack, he was back in Kyiv on assignment (Hall, 2025).

In his book Resolute, “Hall reflects on the key factors that allowed him to survive the deadly missile attack, endure multiple surgeries, heal from a traumatic brain injury, adapt to prosthetics, and cope with the physical and psychological burdens of severe trauma.”  Throughout his journey, he never allowed negative thoughts or fear to interfere with his progress.  

His suffering was horrific, but his focus was on his purpose.  Doctors thought he would be in the hospital for 2 years, but he was home in 6 months.  He built his life on new opportunities, meaningful relationships, inner strength, deeper appreciation for life, and uncovering deeper faith and spirituality (p 219).    

He faces life with the question, “Who is the new me?”  I felt a similar question when I changed careers, moved back to Ohio, and disclosed my faith by writing this blog – Who is the new me?  Hall takes the reader through his journey of accepting, adapting, embracing, aspiring, reinventing, and more.

Hall writes that his secret weapon is his family.  From a reader’s perspective, I question whether his secret weapon is his family or his faith.  His family inspires him, but I felt throughout the book that he was holding back the importance of his faith.

As I was reading, I found a parallel between the author putting family first and my thinking that my family came first for much of my life.  I learned that my family is a priority to me, but secretly, my faith has always been first.  When Jesus is most important, everything else falls into place. 

Our strength, resilience, and perseverance are extraordinary when combined with our purpose.

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