In the Knick of Time...

By Cortney Lynn

I have to accept that Salem was stopped in her tracks, because God knew there may have been more storms, where she could have been headed, again. HE called HIS child home while she was resting safely in his arms. HE saved her and pulled her up out of the black hole, that Satan so many times had her drowning in. Satan had tried to swallow her whole, but the Almighty hand of God reached down and pulled her to safety as Salem acknowledged HIS grace and mercy. A lost sheep was brought back to pasture.
I miss my daughter more than I can express in words. I know many parents out there have lost a child at different ages with different circumstances that know the pain. I pray that God consoles each one of us that feel that tear trickling down our cheeks at the most unexpected times, stemming from the memories that re-surface and take us to our knees time and again. To all of those who awaken to a soaked pillow case and the stark quiet of an empty room, you are not alone. God watches over us both day and night. HIS son is on HIS right… and my child is in the LIGHT!

I praise GOD, that HE did not call my daughter HOME until HE allowed Salem, to open her heart to HIM, again just… IN THE KNICK OF TIME…

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481737685

Cortney Lynn

Cortney Lynn writes her sequel second book, to share the end of the story that started in her debut book called, “Entrapped…Body, Mind and Soul”. Revealed are excerpts from her real life of events that were unexpected, unwanted and unimaginable. Although she grew up in a small Southwest community in Oklahoma and had been exposed to stormy times, living in tornado alley, that could not begin to compare to what lay in store for her and her family, in the way of turbulence. Until meeting her second husband, Devon, her life would have been considered normal and happy. But the tide did turn………..with complete devastation and destruction. Totally unprepared for what fate, in the form of Satan, had in store, she was introduced to the diabolical side of existence and fought the fight of her life. No author could conjure up this story from imagination. The human mind is not intended to comprehend this type of ill fate, the ongoing unrelenting pattern and straight- from-hell experience. The book is written with candid openness to make each of us aware there are principalities of darkness that come to kill, steal and destroy! Cortney learned to stand firm and claim the victory which is ours. As written in the King James version of the Bible, Ephesians 6: 13-17, she adorned herself with the whole armor of God. Stand, therefore having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breast plate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, with which ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Cortney quickly discovered there is NO armor for the back. A soldier who turns his back on the enemy will die.

Book preview

In the Knick

of Time…

CORTNEY LYNN

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2013 by Cortney Lynn. All rights reserved.

Cover Illustration by Julian Chacon

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/10/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3780-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3779-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3768-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013906106

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.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

This Road Leads to Hell

Chapter Two

The Gates of Hell Burst Wide Open

Chapter Three

The Inferno

Chapter Four

Departure from Hell

Conclusion

Author Biography

To the Reader

Tragic as it may sound, this story is absolutely true, but all names used and most place names are totally fictitious, and any resemblance to living persons anywhere is strictly accidental. Not coincidental is the level of spousal abuse and pedophilia depicted here in this account of several lives gone wrong!

The only people who will be mad at me for speaking the truth and telling this horrid story, are those still living the LIE!

Introduction

My publishing debut in 2009 revealed true events of my life in Entrapped… Body, Mind and Soul, lifting the veil on the reality of spousal abuse, by a psychopath. I shared my own traumatic experience in the hopes that my story would compel other women to gain the strength to break free of similar situations and use it as a stepping stone to escape devastation and destruction.

The story of Entrapped… Body, Mind and Soul began two weeks after my first divorce, from the father of my two daughters, when I met a deceptively charming man at the grocery store. Through the abusive process, this man named Devon, somehow convinced me into believing that he was all I had by systematically replacing loving gestures with neglectful, cruel acts until I was trapped in a life full of emotional, mental, financial, physical and sexual abuse.

Life had not always been this way for me. I was raised in a conservative, Baptist household in a small Southwest rural community in Oklahoma. I grew up living the enchanted dream as a typical teenager and as time went on, I accrued the titles of wife, mother of two daughters and Registered Nurse.

I was totally unprepared for the unbelievable deception and fate that lay in store for me and my family, in the form of Satan, as I was introduced to the diabolical side of existence. I did not realize that I was being made acquainted with the perverted, deviant lifestyle, step by step, and a deeper level to a deeper level slowly in a very calculated manner, to the point, that I lost touch with what was real and what was not. I, at one time, had thought of myself as one of the strongest minded, most determined women in the world, yet through the abusive process, I was shattered and reduced to the lowest most insecure life imaginable. I was subjected to this man’s incessantly volatile behavior, sadistic treatment and calloused abuse, yet I began to actually think I could help him, change him or guide him to return to acceptable behaviors that he displayed through our year of dating.

I wrote the initial book describing the heart wrenching chronicles of living in the abusive lifestyle, and explaining my descent and eventual escape taking me on a journey of many personal revelations and universal insights… . that I want women everywhere to arm themselves with against predators.

As I found myself trying to heal from the heinous treatment, I realized my youngest daughter named Salem was crumbling emotionally, physically and spiritually at a rapid pace. As I searched for answers to figure out what was happening, my whole world caved in once again, with a new revelation of events that had been kept secret from me. What I had endured thus far was nothing compared to what my entire family was going to be subjected to, for years to come. It gives me great pain to go down this road and relive the tragic events. I realize I cannot take this story to my grave with me, as just maybe one person, can relate to the wicked and possibly cursed path we were thrust down. As I begin writing, with tear laden eyes, I realize and accept my soul will never have peace, since it tortures me daily, until the chain of events is exposed. I will write this final book with the candid openness in which I feel is vital to convey that there are true monsters out there lurking around to kill, steal and destroy. I will chronicle the prolonged and delayed effects from this treatment that can be and is, DEADLY.

It is time… .

It is time now, to begin the end of the story!

CHAPTER ONE

THIS ROAD LEADS TO HELL

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On October thirteenth, 1988 my divorce to Devon was final. I felt a load of intense pressure lifted from my chest and a huge sigh of relief. As one might expect, it wasn’t quit that easy though. Post-traumatic stress syndrome settled heavily in on me, almost immediately, causing a mental condition known as disassociation from reality requiring in-patient treatment. I was overwhelmed that I was not strong enough to battle that off after all I had been through. The treatment for that condition would be on-going with medications, but I did return to functioning with my career and my family obligations. Devon continued to interfere in our lives, on a regular basis, until 1995, experienced by extremely odd occurrences or possibly a huge black cloud hanging over my entire family with no real explanation. I tried to ignore the incidents or rationalize that these bizarre events were just coincidental.

One day while I was working as RN, Director of Nursing, at a local nursing home, an elderly frail gentleman sat in his wheelchair alone in the dining room. As I passed by he pleaded that he needed to give me a prophetic message from God. This man had been a Pentecostal pastor in previous years and he knew nothing about my life. He said God had told him to relay to me that I had been married to Satan himself! He continued that Devon had been instructed to marry someone beautiful, and the more beautiful, the more POWER he would receive. The gentleman further stated that Devon was to bring me down to the lowest depth of Hell and leave me. Tears were rolling down the old man’s cheeks, his hands were shaking and his voice was quivering. I was in awe of his words. The wrinkled old man, looked me squarely in the eyes, and stated I was to NEVER stop looking over my shoulder, that danger for me and my family was still lurking about us. I sat there stunned, but quickly realized the elderly gentleman was drained by what he had just shared, so I pushed him in his wheelchair to his room and… HE WEPT.

My thoughts kept trailing back to the unexpected conversation with the nursing home resident. It was shocking that he could know so much, but have no clue what my life had been about. I sat and pondered it, analyzed it and cried about the bluntness in which he gave me a warning, from God, as he put it. I found myself in deep thought, remembering the point in time I did question if I was married to a monster, or Satan, himself. The last Thanksgiving that Devon and I were together, I cooked the turkey and dressing the day before. As usual, he would not allow me and my daughters to spend the Holiday with my family, so for the first time in my life I actually prepared the traditional meal. I put it in the ice box for the night, and planned to warm it the following day for our festive dinner. I got up the next morning and went to the kitchen to begin my duties, in a holiday spirit. Much to my surprise, I was shocked as I entered the kitchen to see the turkey pulverized. My head was spinning as I focused on the carcass of the turkey on the cabinet, bone picked dry of all the meat. There were droppings of grease and meat pieces on the floor and complete mutilation of the dinner I had prepared. I allowed my eyes to circle around the kitchen in dismay. The pan I had prepared the dressing in was empty and dressing was smudged all over the kitchen cabinets, ice box door, the oven etc. I was gasping at the thought of what could have happened in here while the girls and I had been sleeping. I rushed to the bedroom and saw Devon asleep in the bed. As on all previous nights he drank Scotch to the point of black out and then would pass out. I stood and stared at the horrific sight. He had dressing all over his face, in his hair and underneath his fingernails. He looked like a viscous black panther after ripping meat apart from his prey and shredding it. I felt evil was controlling our lives through this savage fiend who manifested wickedness to its height of all possibilities. There was no Thanksgiving dinner for us that day and to explain that to two young girls was deplorable.

I had decided to move on from all of that. I would not consider myself a victim, but a survivor, instead. My oldest daughter, Leslie and my youngest daughter, Salem and I were strong. I felt residual effects from the abusive marriage, but my daughters did not display any ill effects from it. It was not unusual for me to brag on Salem for being so strong that she actually saved my life many times, from the attacks made on me, by Devon. We were bonding again and doing the mother-daughter activities, trying to make up for lost time and reshaping our lives in a positive manner. Life became enjoyable again and rather uneventful, but I was soon to learn it was the calm before the storm.

In 1991, Salem (age 10), became very ill with 105 degree fever, swollen joints and a gruesome rash all over her body, suffering severe pain. Doctors locally and afar examined her and could not figure it out. One physician tried to prepare me that we could lose Salem, since she was that ill, and with the uncertainty of what she had, there were no guarantees. She became immobilized and could not walk at intermittent times, requiring homebound school for two years. Her hair was falling out in clumps. She was hospitalized several times and when she was at home I administered IV antibiotics, per the physician’s orders. They first suspected Lyme disease, then polyarthralgia and other educated guesses. My mind constantly reflected back to a story Devon had once told me. He said his third wife’s daughter developed a brain tumor after they divorced and the girl died. My heart would race at this thought, and wondered if he really had some kind of bizarre power, as he stated he did, that could inflict illness and such great pain on so many people. I drove Salem to Scott and White in Temple, TX many times and a doctor made the diagnosis of a rare disease called Palestine Disease or Five Star Complex. She was placed on oral chemo therapy medicine for two years, but no change could be detected in her symptoms. Many trips were made to the local ER, with major flare-ups, but since they had never heard of what she supposedly had, they would treat the pain symptoms and send us on our miserable way. It was more than frustrating. As a mom and an RN, I was powerless to do anything to soothe my daughter’s pain and crying. Devon, somehow heard of Salem’s illness and phoned me to torment me that his plan for us was going on schedule, then would laugh like a hyena and hang up. I couldn’t take the stress anymore. I was a nervous wreck worrying about Salem, holding down a Director of Nursing position of a large nursing home and Devon’s harassment. I felt like I was about to lose it. But something deep inside of me kept compelling me to go forward. I wasn’t a quitter and my children needed me.

I made calls to the physician at Scott and White to question if there were any