- [Announcer] Taya Kyleis a New York Times

best-selling author, and the widow

of American Sniper, Chris Kyle.

Chris and his friend Chad Littlefield

were cruelly murdered by aman they were trying to help.

In Chris' honor, Taya has founded

the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation,

which focuses onstrengthening the marriages

of military spouses and first responders.

After her husband's death, people shared

their own stories of tragedyand triumph with Taya.

She highlighted over 30 of them

in her book, American Spirit.

- Taya Kyle joins us now,welcome, it's so nice

to have you with us.

- Thank you, it's nice to be here.

- You've called the AmericanSpirit a love letter

to the country, what doyou mean by that, Taya?

- You know I just think it's when you see

someone hurting or angry and you think

there's more to them, and you try to reach

their soul, and get passed the anger,

and I feel like that's wherewe are in this country,

it feels very divisive and polarized,

and I see this countrystill having a soul,

and I think that's the healing process.

We need to get to the soul, and remember

that just because we hear loud extremes,

that's not the majority ofwhat's happening in this country.

The majority of what's happening

is people loving each otherand lifting each other up,

without any knowledge ofthe other person's politics.

- And sometimes you knowthat spirit can spread

like wildfire, and we all need to learn

to take three deepbreaths, think a little bit

while we're doing that,and then come at it

from a different perspective.

You talk about the pioneeringspirit that built America.

I mean our country isreally founded on that

and great because of that.

Discuss that a little bit.

- Well you know, it'sinteresting because I know

a lot of times people get frustrated

if we talk about the Founding Fathers,

and there's a mix of what they wanted,

which was border control,and currency, railroads,

and that's about it, right?

The Federal government wasdesigned to not do much,

and I think that was brilliant there,

because it allowed peopleto help each other out.

But, you know, aside from that,

we have this spirit of helping one another

get across the mountainpasses, and, you know,

if they were sick, youhelped your neighbor,

who else was there, right?

And the blessing wasthat people figured out

the kind of grit they had,

they figured out what it took,

and what the purposewas kind of in the pain,

when they came together.

And I think that part ofour spirit's alive and well.

- And there is a big core of your book,

is about the fact thatthere is purpose in pain.

That's sometimes whenyou're going through it,

as I'm sure you've found yourself,

very difficult to see,or even to hang on to.

How did you get to that place?

- Well, you know it's interesting,

because I find that sometimesit feels impossible, right?

When you're going through it,

and I think the more perspective you have,

the more experience youhave getting through things,

the more you start tosee the beauty in it,

and you have faith that it's okay.

So, I definitely see thewisdom in God's plan,

because I think, it's sort of like

if you knew your child wasgonna have an amputation,

you would prepare them ahead of time,

and then you would be with them there,

and you would take care of them afterward.

And I see that as what God did with me,

I was prepared a littlebit before the amputation,

having Chris' life taken,

- [Terry] Just jerked out of your life.

- Right, and there are waysthat I see He prepared me

to be able to withstandthat and put people

in place to help me.

But, there's a story in here of,

can I take a minute and tell you about it?

There's a story in herethat I kind of had a moment

where I felt God in thegreen room back there

kind of talking, saying,"Talk about this one."

Solutions for Change,I haven't talked about

on any other show.

But, Chris Megison, his story is amazing.

He starts out as a marine wholoses a volunteer contest.

You know, just little things add up.

You think, "Oh, that's too bad,"

you didn't get what you wanted.

That puts him into a placewhere he had to volunteer.

Where he volunteers, he sees a guy

who has fought drug addiction,

and is miserable, and death of loved ones,

and he's hurting and he'sin this homeless shelter

and he doesn't talk to anybody.

That pain is used for good, right?

So, the two of them meetand then they connect

and then that puts Chrison this different path

where now he not only helps people

but he does the whole biblical thing

of teaching a man to fish.

And the cool thing is the guy who's fought

all these addictionsand had all this trouble

and is homeless, he doesn't want, I mean,

he appreciates the factthat he has food and money,

but he doesn't want just that.

He wants his life back.

He wants somebody to see him as a person.

So, Chris goes and creates atwo and a half year program

for people, you know.

There's a story inthere of how it happens.

But, where people actuallychange their lives

for the better.

So, I take that and Ithink one little thing

at a time that we would see as horrible,

actually ended up beingthe most amazing blessing

for all of these families who now

have a totally different trajectory.

- That wouldn't havehappened had he gotten

what he wanted in the first place.

- That's exactly right.

- It's a Romans 8:28 moment, you know,

God takes sometimes whatthe enemy has planned

for you that's not goodand turns it into something

that's a blessing for many.

- I think He does that every time.

We just have to be wise enough to see it

and we have to be open enough

and not have fear rule our lives.

And sometimes my life has been a journey

of turning fear into faith.

I was very afraid of a lot of things.

The longer I live, I see if God can get me

through the worst, He canget me through the littlest.

At one point I would've thought,

He wouldn't care about the little things.

I think the beauty of this book

and why I had to share the story

is He does care about the little things.

Like, how magnificentis God that He can care

about the little thingsin all of our lives.

That is mind-blowing.

- Speaking of caring about little things,

how have you helped yourchildren through all of this?

- You know, it's fascinating to me too.

That's another part of mylearning experience with God,

is I see that peoplesay kids are resilient.

But, what I see is theirsouls have been changed

in a way that is positive.

That should not have happened, right?

Because my biggest fearwas telling my kids

that their father had died.

Then, when I actually had to do it,

it was one of the worst thingsI've ever done in my life.

He was an amazing father.

Then I look at it and see,

they are soulful,faithful, they're strong,

they have a different perspective.

You want to talk about a bad day,

I remember my daughtertelling me at one point,

"Mama, sometimes I would'vethought of this as a bad day,

"but, you know, my dad didn'tdie today so really..."

It kind of took my breath away

and I thought, "That's alot for a little person."

And she was very young at the time.

I just see them as somuch smarter and stronger

and more compassionate.

- And I was gonna say smarter and stronger

and yet gentler in a way,

more compassionate as you said.

- They really are.

They look out for other people, you know.

And they don't sit in their grief.

It think that's the other thing.

You think at some point,that when something

like that is taken from them,

I wondered would theirfoundation ever be okay.

And I've had other men in their lives

who are strong, married Christian men

who cared enough about our family

to care for my children, right?

Yeah, they've had peoplestep in every way.

So, without being married again,

you always wonder, will mykids have an understanding

of what a healthy home looks like?

And they do because they have friends

who have healthy marriagesand homes and they get it.

- And isn't that reallythe message of your book?

That all around us life is happening

and we need to step in.

We need to step in to the moment.

We need to step up the plate.

We need to be the one.

- Right, and with that, Iwould suggest this to you, too.

I remember thinking I'd hear those things

and I'd think, "There's no way, I'm a mom

"I would love to change theworld, I can't do that."

I think that the power in this book

is you see that it's actuallythe small things you do

and it multiplies--- Everyday people.

- Yes, and just takingreally good care of your kids

and giving them that foundation,

ripples out more thanany work you could do

if you were showing up ateven a non-profit every day.

- It's a great legacy, whatyou leave with your children.

Well, the book is called American Spirit.

It's available wherever books are sold.

It's a wonderful read.

It's a wonderful inspirationand encouragement.

Thank you, Taya.- Thanks for having me.

- [Terry] It's great to see you again.