In the Shadow of Your Wings: A Journey

By Elizabeth Nelson

For Love of God, Patriotism, and All Things Four-Legged could also have been the title of this book.

Everything written in this book is true. It is a story of Gods great love and grace in one persons life. This is also a story of Gods great blessingsof Christian parents who took the time to teach honest values and virtues to their children. It is a story of great love for family, for America, and for friends. The story includes some amazing horses and one incredible dog. It is the story of loss, grief, and of lifes lessons learned. Above all, I wrote it in gratitude to the good Lord for allowing me to live out my life in the shadow of His wings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490836751

Elizabeth Nelson

Elizabeth Nelson is a first time author and mother of four, two with Autism. She was inspired by her childrens strength in difficulties to write an encouraging book about characters who see the world differently and overcome adversity.

Book preview

In the Shadow of Your Wings:

A Journey

Elizabeth Nelson

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Copyright © 2014 Elizabeth Nelson.

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.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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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.

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: 978-1-4908-3676-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3677-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3675-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014908326

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/30/2014

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1   A Cabin

2   Another Cabin

3   An Angel Came to See Me

4   I Remember My Young Childhood

5   My Dad: The Influence of a Christian Father

6   Guns: Dad Was an Avid Collector of Them

7   Where Is America Going? Where Is America Headed?

8   A Legacy

9   Spring and Summer of 2001 and 2002

10 Meeting Riggs

11 Thinking about a Friend

12 The Story Begins

13 A Trip to Birmingham

14 A Trip Back from Birmingham

15 Don’t Go to Sleep on the Edge of a Lake

16 Some Short Stories

17 Looking Back

Conclusion

Author’s Note

To my children and grandchildren: Morgan, Katie, David, Aubrie Catherine, Alexa Grace, Sierra, Savannah, Jayden, Braedon and Sawyer. You add such unending joy and amazement to my life.

To Danielle, Hillary, Jamey, Jodie, Cody, Leigh Ann, Kristie, Kyle, Ricky, Katie, Kelly, Alitia, Amber, Jonathan, Jason and Beau. You are like my children and are so precious.

To my parents, Roy and Bettie Hatley; Uncle Hank and Aunt Evelyn Morgan; Mattie Mema Casey Morgan; Aunt Betty Norwood; and Aunt Ann Carson. There is no telling what direction my life would have taken without your prayers and loving attention.

To Mr. David Lee, his wife Pat, and their son, Dr. Mike Lee.

To my brother, Al, and his sweet wife, Mary: I love you both very much.

To Penny—few people in life have ever had a friend as dear and wonderful as you are.

To the kindest man I know, my sweet husband, Craig. With a smile, you put up with a crazy-busy life, all of my four-legged critters, and me. I’m not sure just how you do it.

To Nicole Samprieto. We spoke once but have never met. I will always be grateful to you for giving me Riggs.

But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;

And the fish of the sea will explain to you.

Who among all these does not know

That the hand of the Lord has done this,

In whose hand is the life of every living thing,

And the breath of all mankind?

—Job 12:7–10

Acknowledgments

This book cannot be complete without first gratefully acknowledging the tremendous help received from:

Retired Lt. Col. Henry Grady Morgan of Alexandria, Virginia, my beloved uncle.

My wonderful cousin, Mrs. Dee Morgan of The Woodlands, Texas.

You both spent countless hours correcting and editing this manuscript. Thank you both for being so generous with your time and for being so patient with me in this endeavor. Because of your loving efforts, this book, this dream of mine, has now become a reality.

Thank you both so very much.

I love you,

Beba

Introduction

It is a fact that if you never start a project, you surely will never finish it. I have always mastered in procrastination. However, the urge inside is strong, and the time is long overdue to tell these stories.

Why write a book? I suppose because you have a story to tell—if not to a large audience, then that is all right. There is simply a feeling that the story must come out of you; it can no longer stay inside. Experiences, gratitude, obligations, life—if the story is read only by friends and family, the purpose has been accomplished. However, the stories, feelings, and emotions must come out and be told if only to bring peace and closure to the writer.

You, the reader, will not meet my German shepherd Riggs, for several chapters. However, I wrote this book because of him. The morning I lost him, I knew there was a story to tell. His life was an immense source of inspiration and joy to me. Words simply won’t do to explain the bond of affection he and I had for each other. Riggs and I had a bond of complete trust and of pure delight when we were together. I was his god, and I knew my God had given me Riggs. With that said, after many years of thought—and yes, procrastination—it is time to tell the story.

Before I was able to tell the story, there had to be time for healing, healing not just from the loss of Riggs but also from the loss of a marriage, from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and from the loss of beloved parents. It is with suffering the loss, and then traveling through the months and years of healing, that a person learns about gratitude. With gratitude comes great peace and joy. You become at peace with what was and anticipate the joy of what is to be.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

The Bible plainly states that we are to be giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ … (Ephesians 5:20). So we give thanks to God for all things, not just for some things but for all things. Sometimes, at a particular moment, it is just too hard and too painful to see any reason to give thanks, but with the passage of time and with healing, we find a reason to give thanks.

Reminiscing—reflecting on our pasts—is not time wasted so long as we use this time to grow, to heal, and to glory in gratitude to God for the joy of life and even for the pain. Our pasts have helped to mold us into the people we are today, but we must be aware and realize we cannot remain in the past. The present day and our futures are in front of us. I hope we are wiser, possess more knowledge, and can inspire and guide others as they travel life’s joyful and turbulent road. One of my favorite sayings comes from Pastor John Hagee of San Antonio, Texas. He states, The past is history. The future is a mystery. Today is a gift—a present from God. Please, treasure this gift.

1

A Cabin

Two weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and devastated the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast, my daughter Katie had, through a friend of a friend, located a small cabin in Lacombe, Louisiana, that had just come up for rent. I had been divorced a year by this time and realized that the family home was entirely too big for me. In addition, the home held too many memories inside its walls. It was time to move on.

Katie called and said, Mom, just come and look. So I drove over, looked, and fell in love. It was a very old—not just small, but tiny—cabin with about 450 square feet of living area. It was miles out of town in the woods on an old family homesite. There were several acres filled with enormous old oak trees and ancient azalea bushes. Purple iris and masses of purple wisteria grew close to the still-occupied family home. I immediately gave the real estate agent a deposit check and first month’s rent. This was to be home for the next three and a half years.

As the months went by, I felt a love for this place and much gratitude in my heart to God for blessing me with it. The feelings of complete peace, healing, and joy would sometimes turn to tears when I would pause and reflect on the complexities of life and the beauty and peace of my present home. Sitting