A Love Story….How God Pursued Me and Found Me….An Impossibly True Story

By Samantha Ryan Chandler –

Epilogue

I have learned reams of knowledge, wisdom, and patience since I first began this journey of writing about my life. The emotional healing cannot be quantified.

fall scents for your home

To tell my story, I had to acknowledge that my trek had a plethora of enlightenment, hatred, love, abuse, forgiveness, betrayal, greed and fear. The day I finished the manuscript, I went for a long walk to process my thoughts. As I walked, I began a murmur into my heart, saying “I am free!” The murmur transcended into a low voice. Before I returned home, I had to shout for all to hear, “I am free, I am free!!”

The next morning was quite different. I awake to the thought of what do I do now? The manuscript lived in my laptop for several weeks as I had not the courage to present my work. After all, I am just a skinny girl from Nowhere, Louisiana. Who would want to hear my heart…or my story? Having lived all the negative and destructive emotions with a scant few good ones thrown in, I decide that I can do it. Remember my belief that I can do anything for five minutes? I can present my soul to the world. It clearly became a world wind of publishers, etc. It became a book so fast that it made my head spin. I definitely took notice that this just might be a “God thing.”

My manuscript is soon to be a book. I write my epilogue five months after I finished the manuscript with having written The End and Amen.

On occasion, I talk to friends about the title of being an author, but it feels like it belongs to someone else. This period of five months brings me to reflection mode. I have come to realize that there are four complete stages in recovery. They are in the order you receive them:

  1. Faith
  2. Trust
  3. Surrender
  4. Rest

When we encounter a trial and a test of our identity in Christ, we begin with faith. Something dreadful happens, so we recount what we know of our knowledge of whom God is and what scripture says about life on earth. This stage usually is quite long, especially if the trial extracts a price of pain and anguish. Some people never leave this stage and more than likely do not win in the end. Remember when God wants to take you to another level of belief in His goodness and promises, his patience of getting you there will far out last yours. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 11:17

Trust will come as you delve into scriptures extracting those verses that speak to your mountain. This process more than likely drives you to seek and glean places and people in the Bible who displayed great trust in God. You learn of Job and his painful trying experiences and on occasion are grateful Job was Old Testament. Possibly you seek more relief and discover Joseph. Joseph, after eighteen years of unfair and underserved grief wins!  Good to know. The night terror now becomes, “eighteen years”! Will I possibly be able to withstand such a trial?

You begin to talk about it with your understanding Godly friends or Bible study mates. At this level in the trial, trust can and does waiver. You convince yourself one day that you can do this only to awake in the night gripped in fear and trepidation. You may have head and heart knowledge, but trust can be as elusive as a butterfly in the wind. Great trust and then not so great trust as a yo-yo comes and goes in a skilled hand. It is also possible to live in this stage as it is incomplete to receive the, “I am taking you to another level” reward.

Surrender is a sweet place to be and you believe the test and trial has an end in sight. Scripturally surrender means yield. You are worn down and weary so yielding can be confused with giving up. Not so. Surrender means to yield to the plan of God. Your days are, “Ok, God, do what you have to do.”

In the surrender stage, I would awake each day and remind myself that the day I was going to have is the day God had ordained or allowed. Many a day, I would end it with not liking the day I had, with a mumble, grumble and endless prayer request to just give the test a rest. I reached this stage three months ago. The faith and trust stage was my identity for an undeterminable amount of years.

Oh, for rest, the sweetest of all places to be. You must long for it. God longs for it for you. Resting in God’s will is brand new to this skinny girl. I arrived a few weeks ago and it is quite sweet. To achieve rest, it is a conscious decision to stay in this place. Hopefully all the lessons learned in the first three stages will easily allow this. I must say it is born out of weary but weary must contain an abundance of trust, faith and surrender. Everyone gets weary and it is not necessarily a sign of lack in an area. “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Galatians 6:9. Resting looks and feels like surrender but has no concern for the day. It is what it is. God says, “I know the plans I have for you, to prosper you”. How can we possible argue with this?

A day of rest awakens to hope that this might be the day the trial or test ends. If it does not end, you go to bed with the thought that tomorrow might bring the answers and the puzzle pieces to your doorway.  You also maintain that at the end of the day and the answer has not arrived, you are most certainly one day closer to relief. You know that you know that you know God will not and cannot deny his promises for you.

“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God gives you rest and will give you this land. Joshua 1:13

And the weary are at rest. Job 3:17b

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:7a

Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding. Proverbs 14:33a

And his resting place will be glorious. Isaiah 11:10c

Do not destroy his resting place. Proverbs 25:15b

 

The tale of Samantha Ryan Chandler’s life is evocatively portrayed in her book: A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me. It tells of a life that is as disturbing and unsettling as it is uplifting and, in the end, gratifying. How “A girl from Nowhere, Louisiana” finds her way from such humble beginnings to live and walk amongst presidents and the supremely rich, only to find her trust and faith betrayed by those that she loved and trusted the most. She would be tested to the point where she began to doubt her own sanity and, at the moment of her greatest desperation and doubt, she was found by God and brought back from the brink of hopeless despair. Blessed with an almost unquenchable optimism and a unique sense of humor, she relates the story of a life that will speak to those who have encountered abuse, unfairness and anguish. Her love for her children and her faith in God carried her through a crucible of fire and in the end, made her a better, stronger person, ready to carry on with a life that is again filled with love, joy and laughter. A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me will both inspire you and touch your heart.
Website: www.SamanthaRyanChandler.com

ISBN 9781615077588     Available Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and most book websites

Credits:
1st Author Interview:  http://www.1stauthorinterviews.com/2011/06/interview-with-samantha-ryan-chandler.html
YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=k6uph5tJaS8
Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/32443726
Metacafe: http://www.metacafe.com/w/6568124

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A Love Story….How God Pursued Me and Found Me….An Impossibly True Story
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