Twist & Turn of Faith: A True Story

By Ishtar

This is a true story that anyone can relate to and create a connection with. When you face challenges, you will succeed only if you have faith in yourself and the path that is created for you. Everyone has a choice; some people will choose the wrong path, and some will choose the right path. I chose mine with strength and belief while fighting my own demons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Jan 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524521301

Ishtar

She left her country for an unknown destination. She left her family and the greatest love of her life, her late father. It was then that she met challenges that created the strength she has today to fight for her other greatest love, her youngest son.

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Copyright © 2017 by Ishtar.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017900236

ISBN:   Hardcover              978-1-5245-2132-5

              Softcover               978-1-5245-2131-8

              eBook                    978-1-5245-2130-1

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.

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: 01/05/2017

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Chapter 2: A Child’s Visions

Chapter 3: The Love Story: Ashur and Ishtar

Chapter 4: Life in Greece

Chapter 5: It’s Like Riding a Bike

Chapter 6: Wake Up! It’s a Sign!

To my two sons, who have given me strength, happiness, and love through my life’s journey. They are my first priority in life. I sacrificed a lot of my youth to give them what they needed in life as best I could.

Also to my father, who gave me unconditional love and support through all the hardships I faced growing up. I have the utmost love and respect for him.

INTRODUCTION

How it all began …

My objective and my goal in life is to teach people to never give up. We all serve a purpose on this earth, and we were strategically situated to become the people we are to serve a purpose. Some spend days, weeks, months, years, and even decades trying to discover what purpose they serve on this earth. Others sacrifice lifetimes and never discover it.

The point is, whether we realise it or not, we really do serve a purpose in this world and in this lifetime. The objective is to help others gain the strength for their journeys through life. An essential key to this is to always keep your eyes open. Recognise and identify signs throughout life to strengthen yourself and provide yourself with direction in life.

It has taken me about ten years to finally decide to write this book. I was waiting for a sign, a spiritual awakening from a higher spirit to guide me to the right path. What motivated me to tell my story are my sons, my youngest especially, and also my father, who I had a deep love and affection for. I’m hoping to leave a legacy for my sons—something special that I can leave behind when I’m no longer in this world. I want to document all my memories and all the obstacles and hardships I faced whilst growing up.

However, this is also a story of survival and how I found inner strength to face my fears and demons along the way. I made a choice to follow my own destiny, and it has led me to where I am today. It has also made me the person I am today: strong, independent, fearless, and spiritual.

Not everyone was born with a spiritual gift. Some have learnt to practise this by reading books or going to classes. My purpose is to guide true mediums to use their gift to help others in need of a spiritual awakening. The gift comes from within; it’s not something that you can learn. If a person truly has a gift, he or she will be given signs through dreams, life experiences, and messengers from a higher power. God doesn’t just come down to earth; he sends messengers, who are ordinary people like you and me, and he channels his thoughts through them like a vessel.

I truly believe in a higher spirit, in goodness, and that whatever you do in this lifetime will come back to you in a different way, one way or another. Whatever sacrifices we make for the good will come back in time. Patience is a virtue.

We are all equal in God’s eyes. There are so many people who need guidance and direction in their lives because there are a lot of dilemmas people come across in their journeys—dilemmas such as confusion, emotional stress, financial difficulties, and other unexpected surprises that life has in store. My goal is to help people see that there is more to life than what they can see right in front of them.

Behind every door there is another dimension, another form of life. It’s not just a black-and-white picture. People have strength they don’t realise they have. Fear takes over, and it is a powerful emotion that stops them from moving forward and taking chances in life.

People who come to me have usually found themselves looking at a wall. My gift enables me to guide them to see the options behind that wall and what life has to offer them. I want to reach out to the people who have lost themselves and their souls in their journeys of life. Based on my own experiences growing up, I want people to realise that if I can make it, so can they. All they need is someone to guide them spiritually to make the right choices for themselves.

CHAPTER 1

THE BEGINNING

It was January 1960 in Mosul, Iraq, when my mother gave birth to me. I was born at home, with a midwife assisting my mother. My parents had struggled to conceive straight away when they got married. I was to be their miracle baby after five years of trying without any luck.

My parents lived with my grandparents on my father’s side because, like other relatives who lived there with us, they could not afford to buy a house of their own. So there we were, eight of us crammed into a tiny mud house.

When I was born, everyone was elated, especially my grandmother. She could not believe she finally had a granddaughter. A year later, my parents separated. My mother went to live with her parents in Dohuk, which is north of Iraq, and left me behind in the care of my father’s parents. Her own parents refused to let her take me with her under their roof. Their reason was that she got married without children, so she could only come back by herself.

My father was away at work as a building engineer, so he wasn’t there most of the time. He was an intelligent man, even though he never studied at school. He was self-taught and learnt from his own initiative. He could read and write in Assyrian and Arabic. My father was also taught to read and write in English by a generous English couple who were working as archaeologists in the north of Iraq.

My mother, on the other hand, was illiterate. She could only speak Assyrian. She could not read or write in Assyrian, Arabic, or English.

My father was working in Baghdad as a contractor for a Japanese company. My grandparents took on the responsibility of raising me as their own daughter. My grandfather was a retired war veteran from World Wars I and II. He had been presented with many medallions and also met King George VI. My grandfather was a very brave man, but he came back from the war a changed person. He was a heavy drinker, although he still had a pure and generous heart. He spoke seven languages: Arabic, Assyrian, Russian, German, English, French, and Italian.

My grandmother was his complete opposite. She was a typical housewife. She looked after the family while he was away for long periods of time. My grandmother had to learn to cope on her own and raise her children without their father around most of the time. She was beautiful, spiritual, loving, caring, and generous.

I loved my grandparents. They looked after me and made sure I had all the essentials. My parents had left me behind when I was one year old, so I thought my grandparents were actually my parents. They raised me until I was five years old.

My parents reunited in Baghdad while I was still living with my grandparents in Alqosh. My grandmother found out and took me back to them because she wanted them to take responsibility for their own daughter.

I vividly remember when my grandmother left to go to Baghdad. I didn’t see her sneak out. She didn’t even say goodbye. I was so upset; I was sick for three days because I was so attached to her. She was like my own mother. I didn’t understand why she was gone, so I cried and slept under my bed.

When my grandmother gave me back to my parents, I felt so lost and confused. I felt like I was an orphan, because they were complete strangers to me. My father tried to make me accept that they were my parents, but I refused to believe it. That’s when the horror started in my life.

My mother was a very hard woman who showed no emotion, affection, or love towards me. I never felt that she was proud that I was her daughter. She neglected me once I was back in their lives. She used to go to work for five hours and keep me locked up in the room because she didn’t want anyone else looking after me. My mother didn’t trust anyone. She thought that they could have bad influences on me and tell me things that she didn’t want me to know.

I remember the room so vividly. It was like a prison cell. There was a bar window that looked over the roof of the house. I could hear children playing outside and other people walking and laughing. I couldn’t understand why I was locked up and isolated from the world.

My mother used to leave me with a bottle of water so I wouldn’t dehydrate. There was no toy, doll, television, or radio in that room, so I used my imagination to play with things that were already in there. I had a fantastic imagination. I used to play with a pair of my father’s socks and my bottle of water and pretend that I was doing the laundry. I used to fall asleep and then repeat what I was doing. I did that to pass the time until my mother got home from work. I was lonely and isolated and felt the whole world’s weight on my tiny shoulders.

I remember an incident that happened when I was five years old. While walking down the road, I found ten dinars. I didn’t know what money was back then; I just picked it up because I loved the colour of it. I went home and fell asleep with the money in my hand. My mother found me sleeping and saw me holding something. She opened my hand and found the money.

My mother woke me up and asked me