Unfractured Faith

By Tanya South

This is an uplifting memoir of a mothers journey of faith for her family, a test of their faith and courage as they face trials of all kinds. Unexpectedly, their little girl was stricken with a rare, serious, and potentially life-threatening disease. Out of darkness came to light a twofold miracle. The author invites readers to see how, ultimately, God was there to provide healing and comfort.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512762945

Tanya South

Tanya South is a native New Yorker, born to parents of Puerto Rican descent from the Bronx, New York. She attended Christian schools and has a degree in Marketing, Merchandising and Creative Design. Tanya’s passion is writing stories about faith, hope and love, with some inspiration from her own true life’s experiences. Her stories portray the truth that God is always in the midst of your situation.

Book preview

UNFRACTURED

FAITH

TANYA SOUTH

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Copyright © 2016 Tanya South.

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 Basic Bible in English.

Scripture taken from the American Standard Version Bible.

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: 978-1-5127-6295-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6296-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6294-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016918492

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/14/2016

Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

A New Day

Chapter 2

The Domino Effect

Chapter 3

The Mystery Nurse

Chapter 4

A Stomach Virus or Not?

Chapter 5

A Warning Dream

Chapter 6

The Eternity Ride

Chapter 7

Angels in the ER

Chapter 8

God’s Dream Team

Chapter 9

The Unexpected Storm

Chapter 10

The Devil Is a Liar

Chapter 11

Another Sleepless Night

Chapter 12

Tired Little Girl

Chapter 13

The Prognosis

Chapter 14

Defeat Is Not an Option

Chapter 15

Zee Needs You

Chapter 16

Is It Impossible?

Chapter 17

Confused

Chapter 18

Battle of Unbelief

Chapter 19

A Cry out to God

Chapter 20

A Sign of Faith

Chapter 21

Heavy Heart

Chapter 22

Mystery and Miracle

Chapter 23

The Revelation

Epilogue

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my family—to my loving and courageous husband, James, who believed in me, encouraged me, and supported me as I wrote our story about God’s marvelous work in our family. I dedicate it also to Caiden, Cameron, Zabrina, and James Jr., our four wonderful children. I love you with all my heart and soul. I also dedicate my book to my beautiful mom, who taught me how to be a prayer warrior, and to my dad, who’s with the Lord. My parents raised me to know and praise God. I love them both. My family exemplifies courage. I wrote this axiom for them: Faith leads to courage, courage leads to action, and action leads to victory.

Courage means trying again and again, even if you’re not sure how long it will take you to reach your finish line. Courage is saying, I’m not going to stop as long as I can help it. Courage is doing something that’s extremely hard anyway. Courage is choosing to face the unknown while holding onto hope. Faith and courage go hand in hand. Faith leads to courage. They both require us to step into the future while not quite knowing what that future holds. Faith and courage sustain us through efforts that seem impossible; we know that those who stay strong and hopeful in the Lord can and will be victorious! As it is written in Joshua 1:9 (BBE), Have I not given you orders? Take heart and be strong; have no fear and do not be troubled; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Prologue

Be fighting the good fight of the faith; take yourself the life eternal, for which you were marked out, and of which you gave witness in the eyes of all.

—1 Timothy 6:12 BBE

As I’ve grown older, the message of 1 Timothy 6:12 (BBE) rings loudly and clearly in my spirit. My eyes are wide open. I recognize all the battles I’ve had to face spiritually. God has worked his wonders in my life time after time. I have broken free from an abusive previous marriage and days that were filled with tears and heartache. Then I was a single mother with two small children. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Bronx, New York, after being given a second chance. Now I have remarried. I am a dedicated stay-at-home mom, devoted to raising and taking care of our four children and being the best wife I can be to my husband, James.

No matter what struggles I’ve had to face in the past, I always fought to maintain my faith, which was often engaged in spiritual warfare. My faith often felt spiritually beaten to a pulp, bruised, worn down, dragged through the dirt, lashed, bent, and weathered in the past storms, but it never fractured. Despite all life’s attempts to break my faith, I hang on for dear life. When I was a single mom, my two small children and I attended Mass on Sundays. I prayed to meet the man whom God had designated for me. I dreamed that this man would be the partner who would stand by me so we could celebrate the sunshine and weather the storms together. I wanted a man who loved God as I do. He sent me someone who not only loves and respects me but also accepts and loves my two children as his own as well. My new marriage was an answered prayer and a second chance at real love.

When my kids were very little, they asked many questions, especially my spunky and inquisitive little girl, Cameron. She would always tell me what she dreamed at night too. She had a big imagination.

Mommy, when are we going to move into a house with a big backyard and a swimming pool? she asked.

Cameron and Caiden, one day we will live in a house with a big backyard and even a swimming pool, I answered. I thought, Oh, oh, what dream did I just promise them?

Mommy, can we have a doggie too? she asked.

Thinking and praying at the same time, I thought, God, this promise I’m making is getting bigger and bigger. Please help me to fulfill my promise to them.

Yes, sweetheart, we can even get a dog too, I answered.

Two years later my little girl’s dream, which also sparked my dream, came true. James and I met, fell in love, and bought a house upstate in Rockland County, New York, in the cozy, quaint town of Sloatsburg. It was only the second house we saw when house-shopping, and we just knew this house was going to be our new home. James has a natural gift for construction, so fixing up the house was like a hobby for him. About a year after moving into our house, we installed a pool. Life couldn’t have been better. Our yard is our dream yard. I refer to it as our vacation backyard. The dog Cameron wanted was Tank, our wonderful black-and-white Boston Terrier, whom James already owned when we met.

My happily-ever-after time was finally here. Marriage and raising a family require ample faith, love, strength, perseverance, and courage. From the beginning of my relationship with James, and more so when we decided to build a life together; I wanted us to go to church