Like the air we breathe, most Americans assume our extraordinary freedoms will always be in abundant supply. It's only when those freedoms are threatened or when we are otherwise enlightened to the fact that many in our world live and die never knowing the blessings of liberty, that our appreciation for it grows. In this collection of short essays, seven Americans write about events in their lives that resulted in a deeper appreciation of freedom.

(AgapePress) - As a first generation immigrant to this great land of the free and home of the brave, I am proud of America, the dream that became my address.

My home in Lebanon was destroyed by shelling and I lived in an 8x10-foot bomb shelter for seven years between the ages of 10 and 17. I was robbed of my youth and the freedoms even the poorest of American children take for granted. I ate grass to live, drank dirty water from a nearby spring, and spent evenings in candlelight covering my ears from the sound of the bombs exploding around me. Once, at age 13, I went to bed dressed in my Sunday best because I wanted to look pretty for burial if I was killed by the Muslims. My only crime was that I was a Christian in what was once the only predominantly Christian country in the Middle East before Islamic Jihad took hold and turned it into a terrorist haven.

As someone who lost her freedom and feared death, it pains me when I see Americans using their freedom of expression to abuse our country or tarnish its character. While sitting in my bomb shelter I would have changed places with them in an instant. America is the country that the oppressed of the world look to for freedom.

Enjoy your religious freedom, freedom of movement, freedom to assemble and freedom of speech because every day someone complains about our country they encourage our sworn enemy, the jihadists, into believing that the longer they hold out the sooner they can take our freedoms away.