Overcoming from Within

By Grace Todenes

You can take back your life!

Overcoming from within is one of the most powerful stories about moving on from a painful past through the power of forgiveness. This fascinating story begins in Africa and continues on to Europe where the author takes us through her captivating and extraordinary life that she says was a combination of love, pain, madness and dysfunction.

Overcoming from within inspires you to take your life back from what the past took away from you while reminding you that forgiveness is not only about saying I forgive you but it is also about living a life where that which hurt you, no longer has power over you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Feb 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781452586786

Grace Todenes

Grace Todenes was born and raised in a town called Gilgil in Kenya, Africa. She was brought up in Christian faith, and it is through the teachings of the Bible that Grace's questions about life began to arise. The answers would later come at the least expected time, through a journey full of transformational discoveries that became the inspiration for this book. Besides having a degree in social work, Grace is a certified angel practitioner and a coach in authentic success. She lives in Norway.

Book preview

Overcoming

from Within

GRACE TODENES

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Copyright © 2014 Grace Todenes.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-8679-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-8677-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-8678-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013920743

Balboa Press rev. date: 2/4/2014

Contents

Foreword

The First Chapter

Mom

Dad

Granny

Religious Beliefs

My Childhood Paradise

The Hard Year

A Clear Picture of Expectations

The Next Chapter

Acceptance

Forgiveness

Truly Knowing God

Let Positive People into Your Life

Positive Boundaries

Be True Instead of Perfect

Even though Doubt May Come, Be the Inspiration

Life

Notes

To my Granny Grace; I love you beyond words!

Foreword

We sometimes go to the extreme for the things we believe in. It can, therefore, be very unfortunate when we have wrong beliefs. I come from Africa, where I have seen people, including some relatives, believe in witchcraft so completely that when they see something suspicious outside their front door—for example a feather, an eggshell, or even hair—they almost lose their minds with panic, because they believe someone is bewitching them. None of them stops to think, What if this feather was blown to my doorstep by the wind? Or, Someone must have shaved his head, and some hair flew with the wind to my doorstep. I watched as some people planned their trips to Mombassa, which is in the coastal region of Kenya, because they believed that is where the very best witches lived. These witches could undo whatever harm the person who sent a feather, hair, or anything suspicious to the other’s doorstep.

If you do not believe in witchcraft, you are probably thinking, Really? My answer to you is Yes, really. Try telling these people the wind could be to blame for those things on their doorsteps. They will tell you that is impossible, even though this could be the most accurate explanation. But before you smile and shake your head in disbelief, I want you to look at your own life, and see how many things you believe are impossible. I want you to ask yourself if your life would be different had you changed your beliefs and accepted nothing is impossible. Could all the good that life has to offer have passed you by simply because you do not believe in possibilities?

I knew of a man who liked to do puzzles. He would sit for hours, putting puzzle pieces together. It would take him almost a month to finish a puzzle. I sometimes sat with him and helped him, but I never had the patience to put together hundreds of small pieces. One day, amazed by his patience, I asked him how he did it, and how he managed to put together small pieces, that to me looked very much alike, into one picture. The man looked at me and told me whenever he got stuck, he would stand up and look at the puzzle from different directions. He told me that by doing so, he could see why he had been stuck and where he had been wrong in putting the puzzle together. When it came to the patience, he told me he had learned to enjoy the process. It was from this man’s story that I was left wondering, What if people could look at their struggles from a different direction? Would they see where the problem lies and find a solution?

Although this book is about me and my past, it is also about you. In my own way, I am asking you the same question I asked myself after my encounter with the man with the puzzles: What if you looked at your past from a different direction? I know many still believe people are different due to their differences in culture, religion, skin color, sexuality, gender, and so on. But if you look past all that, you will see we all have a connection as human beings. One of those connections is through our stories. We relate through our stories, because no matter who we are or where we come from, we all want to be free from everything that prevents us from finding peace and happiness.

As you read this book, I hope you will be inspired to heal your past. I have always believed that one man’s story is another one’s inspiration. This book is not about fighting against; it is about making peace with the past.

The book is divided into two sections with multiple chapters within each. The first chapter provides insight about my life. The second is about the healing or transformational stages I had to go through to make peace with my past. My prayer and intention are that no matter how difficult your past was, you will be encouraged to look at it from a different direction, so you can put your own puzzle together. Be prepared to view life from a different perspective. And remember that nothing is impossible. I pray that as you turn the pages, you will see everything you need to make life the best it can be is all in you. May your heart open as you heal from the past, so you can receive everything good that life has to offer—and even more!

Namaste,

Grace

The First Chapter

I was born in Kenya, Africa, in a town called Gilgil which is located in the beautiful rift valley. Gilgil was and still is a beautiful place, where most people still know each other. My home was in the middle of the place people referred to as town. This was because it was the area where most commercial buildings with different business like butcher shops, bars, radio repair shops, bars, clothing stores, cafes, hair salons and shoe stores were located. Just like many towns in Kenya; Gilgil is a colourful place where buildings are painted in different bright colors ranging from red, green and orange. There was a lot going on in town because any empty space on the outside of most of the shops was rented to tailors and shoe shiners. So busy people who felt their shoes needed a good shining stopped by the shoe shiners and sat on the high