Still Standing Through Grace and Mercy

By Katrina Dawn

Samantha grew up in a strict and structured family faces unbelievable obstacles on her own that she kept to herself her entire life. She finally finds the courage to let the love of her life in on some of her past. Samantha dealt with her issues through her faith and seeking therapy. After therapy, Samantha realized that her past is not her present or her future. She realizes that she does get a second chance at life and to make it full of love, happiness, and all the desires of her heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503520318

Katrina Dawn

A former manager of one of the biggest banks in corporate America has now retired from that phase in her life. Being a single mother of three, she managed to work, go to college full-time, and work on a double degree. She has accomplished a personal goal of hers when she walked across the stage. To her friends and family, she is often consulted on matters of the heart, spirituality, and life issues. Encouraged by her mentor and friends, she began her next journey in life to become a published author.

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Copyright © 2015 by Katrina Dawn.

ISBN:      Softcover       978-1-5035-2032-5

                eBook            978-1-5035-2031-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Website.

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.

Rev. date: 05/15/2015

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Being a Child and Having to Act as an Adult

Chapter 2 Doing it on Her Own, Not for Much Longer

Chapter 3 Being Preyed Upon and Caught

Chapter 4 High School and How it Taught Her So Much

Chapter 5 Blessed with Children

Chapter 6 Her Father and Their Strong Bond

Chapter 7 Her faith and Connection with God

Chapter 8 The Damaging Marriage

Chapter 9 Coming Out and Coming Through

Chapter 10 The Worst Betrayal

Chapter 11 Forgiveness and Pressing Forward

Chapter 12 Her second chance at life and love

Endnotes

Book Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of my

Father, Frank Williams Jr and

Also my Mothers, Jerline Williams and Allison Willis.

Their unconditional support helped me get through college with children and to accomplish my goals.

Also to my 3 sons

Derrick Dawn, Kelerick Dawn & Gregory Dawn who have always

been there with me through every struggle and every celebration.

Acknowledgments

First and Foremost, I want to thank God, for his unconditional love, grace and mercy. Without him, I would have been gone a long time ago. To my Pastor, Rev. SM Wright II for his spiritual leadership.

I can’t believe I did it. This book would not have every happened without one of the most honorable men I know. The person I look up to as my mentor, life coach and great friend, Ronald Ray Robinson. He has been a constant overseer of my writing since I was in college.

To my Uncle Jerry, who has been a father, protector, friend, financial provider and one of my biggest supporters. He has always been very supportive of my endeavors in life and encouraged me to follow them. Without him in my life, many times, I just don’t know how I would have survived many situations. When everyone else told me I couldn’t, he always told me, I could. Thank you Uncle Jerry.

To my two very close and dearest friends Valerie Smith and Tammy Wells. I want to thank you for laughing at me when I would go into the office supply store and buy special sorts of pens and tablets and say Who does that? You both always told me that I was a great writer and should write a book. They always said that it would be a huge encouragement and inspiration to so many people.

To my beautiful sister, who has been my confidant, my secret keeper, my support in times of need for. For being the person I held on to growing up because it was me and her sometimes for ourselves.

To the man who called me the smartest woman he knew, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Robert Davis. His education and accomplishments encouraged me to go further with my education and challenged myself for higher heights.

To the rest of my family and friends I want to thank you for all amount of support you gave me throughout the years, that brought me to this point.

Thank you,

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit

- Psalm 34:18

I’ve learned that people may forget what you said, they may forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel

- Maya Angelou

Chapter 1

Being a Child and

Having to Act as an Adult

At the age of 3months old Samantha was given away by her biological Mother, to her biological Grandparents to raise. She wanted nothing to do with