Yea Though I Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

By Chris Thomas

Yea though I Walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death had to be written. It is a heart-wrenching account of a womans road through her own personal anguish and back, one that could be written only by the person who experienced it. It describes how she lived through the death of her infant daughter, a fire that totally destroyed her home and its contents, the suicide of her 21-year-old son, the killing of her 25-year-old son, the subsequent trauma, called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that followed, and her return to stability. Such a listing doesnt capture Chriss journey. Though not a professional writer, she has allowed us to enter her world, with all of its twists and turns, moments of sadness and despair, and finally, the peace that comes from emerging on the other side. She has a guileless honesty that wont let you go.

No doubt thousands of people have shared some of Chriss experiences few, if any, to her degreebut fewer still have her ability to capture that experience in a way that makes her experiences their own.

Kevin Burne, Ph.D.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490885650

Chris Thomas

Chris Thomas is a writer, speaker, and communication professional. He is best known for his work as the Smart family publicist during the nine-and-a-half months Elizabeth was missing. In this capacity, he fielded more than ten thousand calls from journalists, served as a family spokesperson by completing hundreds of interviews, helped coordinate the Smart’s lobbying efforts for the national Amber Alert, and managed a crush of media when Elizabeth was rescued. John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted said that Thomas deserves most of the credit for keeping the public and family focused on finding Elizabeth. Thomas also managed the trial and sentencing of Elizabeth’s abductors, helped position her as a leading child advocate, and managed Elizabeth’s engagement, her surprise wedding, the birth of her children, and the divorce of her parents.         In addition to Elizabeth, Thomas has managed more than three hundred crises for companies, nonprofits, government organizations, and families. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from Westminster College.

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Copyright © 2015 Chris Thomas.

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 author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, Zondervan New International Version® Study Bible. Copyright © 1985 edition, 1995 edition and 2002 edition. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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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.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8564-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8566-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8565-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015909947

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/16/2015

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Write a Book

Chapter 2 Stacey

Chapter 3 Fire

Chapter 4 David

Chapter 5 Matthew

Chapter 6 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Chapter 7 I Will Never Leave You nor Forsake You

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to the people who are in their own personal valley, whether it’s physical, emotional or spiritual.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Greg Spalenka for taking the vision given to me and turning it into a reality—my reality. Thank you Greg for the beautiful artwork you did for me.

Jeff Burne for wrapping the contents of this book with a cover that consists of time, craft and love. Thank you Jeff for the hours spent helping me.

Kevin Burne for the time spent reading and editing this book. Thank you for your knowledge and the guidance you gave me.

Cindy Barnhart for transcribing my hand-written book into a computer format. Thank you for taking time to help me.

CHAPTER 1

Write a Book

Throughout the years I have heard people say that God spoke to them. I wondered what exactly did they hear. I know that God speaks to us through the Bible. God speaks to us through preachers. Sometimes He uses people that we know and some we don’t know. But how does from God’s voice to my ears work? Why don’t I ever hear Him speaking to me? What does God’s voice sound like? When God speaks to a person, does he hear a quiet whisper in his ear? I imagined His voice sounding like a deep, powerful mighty roar. Remember the movie The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston? Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God. The deep, powerful voice of God was rather scary, if you ask me. His voice definitely scared Charlton Heston. I found out that God’s voice is not at all that I had imagined.

In March 2007, I was going through a huge loss in my life. Emotionally I fell into a very deep, dark black pit. I would remain there for almost two years. It was when I was in that pit that God spoke to me. He said three words: Write a book. No, I didn’t hear the scary roar of a voice I had imagined. It was more like a thought I knew was not mine. There is absolutely no way, not a chance that I would ever have the desire to write a book. Three words, Write a book, would come and go for more than six years.

Isaiah 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it.

I have had a lot of losses in my life, but to write a book about them was never a thought of mine. I would tell God, I hate to write. I don’t even like writing my name. I don’t like my handwriting or the way I print. Since I’m computer illiterate, I knew that I would have to rely on my handwriting that sometimes I can’t read myself. Verbalizing my thoughts can be difficult. Putting my thoughts on paper would be almost impossible. I fought those three words with every excuse I could muster.

Through the years there were times I would not hear those dreaded words. Oh good, I would think. God has forgotten. I’m off the hook. No, He hadn’t forgotten. God took a different approach. He used my daughter. Tammy was at work and called me during her lunch hour. She had her own issues, and she had a lot on her mind. Earlier that morning I had watched a preacher on television, and I decided to tell Tammy some of the lessons I had learned. Before I could give her my words of wisdom, she said, Write a book. The first thought I had was, Are you kidding me? Oh, you’re using my daughter now, aren’t you, God? I started to give Tammy the same excuses that I had been giving God. My daughter told me to stop focusing on myself. Well, well, well, wasn’t that interesting? Those were the exact words the preacher had spoken. Yes, God, I replied to Tammy. One of the last words of wisdom my daughter said to me was, Before you start, pray, and turn off the TV. How did she know that I had the television on? I had the volume turned down so low that even I couldn’t hear it.

Once I heard a preacher say, If God tells you to do something but you think it is too difficult for you to do, just do it. God has never told me to do anything I thought was too difficult for me, I told myself. I believe