You Are Being Tested

By Marie C. C. Zoutomou

Never doubt the true potential you have in the life God has given you. You are strong, capable, intelligent, beautiful, and most importantly, not alone. You have been given the test you are fighting through for a reason. You can try your best to plan ahead and prepare for the future, but life will always present the unexpected. Losing a loved one, living through a tragedy, or being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness are tests that will challenge you and may break you down, but they will never destroy you. You are being tested of your strengths, faith, endurance, and keeping an optimistic view. You are the one who decides what you will overcome and accomplish. The results are placed in your own hands. The question is, what results are you looking for and how are you going to get there? Life gave me my own test to overcome, something I least expected. I was healthy and never thought twice about my body, until my diagnosis. My life changed completely when I found out I had breast cancer. My diagnosis made me realize that life is too precious to discount any moment. I felt despair and wanted to have all the answers to the questions that resonated in my head. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew one thing for sure, God was by my side, and it was up to me to take the necessary steps to overcome this. My test wasn’t easy, but I fought through the trials, making sure I did not become the victim. I, along with two amazing women, share our story on how we overcame the test that changed each of our lives. It is up to you to fight, to keep moving, and never give up because there is always hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635681093

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You Are Being Tested

Marie C. Zoutomou

Copyright © 2017 Marie C. Zoutomou

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2017

ISBN 978-1-63568-108-6 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63568-109-3 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Prologue

About Me

Early Childhood

Living in America

Getting Cancer

Faith

Positive Attitude

Love

Visualizing a Better Future

Raylene's Story

Introduction

Raylene

2005

2006

2007

Rita's Story

Introduction

Rita

Conclusion

Tips

Resources

About the Author

Prologue

Surviving cancer is a test most people struggle to overcome, being consumed by the immutable fate of this life-threatening disease. This book shares the trials and suffering that comes with surviving cancer but illuminates the transformation of individuals who go through and come out of this test using the internal tools that everyone has access to, tools that exist within every person—faith, hope, acceptance, love, and choice.

Throughout this book, you will see the fight against cancer through the eyes of two unique individuals and myself. We fight with faith, a positive attitude, love, and visualizing a better future for ourselves, so that one day, we could inspire many to be greater than the situation they are fighting through. Inspiring stories from these two other Survivors and myself will captivate the importance of these aspects of life. I, Marie, will be the first to share my story. I will explain how I came to be where I am, how life changed when I was diagnosed with cancer, and why I stand here today to help inspire others who are going through a difficult time in their life.

You will then hear from Raylene, a woman who expresses her journey through each day as she lived it. Through the pain, the discomfort, the fight against cancer, she shares why she still looks back at her experience as a way of God working through her to help others who are going through the same situation or another difficult circumstance.

Lastly, you'll hear from Rita and her story. Her trials and tribulations that she faced and how she overcame them. She is a strong woman who displays her strength and her fight against cancer, but not only for herself, but for her family. She is a woman of faith and never lost sight of God. She will share with you her own fight against cancer and how she came to be the person she is today. As you journey through this book along with these two individuals and myself, you will see how faith, a positive attitude, love, and visualization of a better future has changed each of our lives. The following shares with you what you will be expecting from each of these tools and how they affected each of us. I will break down each section as part of my own story and how they have applied in my life and in my fight against cancer.

Faith, trusting that all things are possible if you just believe. I will share with you what had helped me gain and maintain faith, the times when I lost faith and how I restored it, and the situations that challenged my faith, along with the things, people, and situations that manifested as a result of my faith.

I will explain how a positive attitude is about maintaining hope and always knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel, seeing the good in things, people, and situations. Finding the lesson in everything that happens and looking beyond what you immediately think you see. Connecting to a sense of peace and beginning to accept what is your new reality. Realizing that acceptance is the first step toward changing a situation and how gratitude will allow you to continue your journey positively.

God, please grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change; the courage to change what I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. With this prayer, challenging situations did not deter me from my positive attitude. I will explain how I maintained a positive attitude, and how I received and passed on this hope by meeting other inspiring cancer survivors. As God watches over us, He will always prepare you for something greater, a reason that will be revealed to you when the time is right. Dealing with everything life throws at you is a matter of choice and how you respond, so it's up to you to fight or to stand by.

God is Love. I will share how one is consumed by the everlasting Love that God has given each and every one of His children. God is always with you, communicating with you, and showing you His love. God wants each of us to love one another, everyone around you. Staying connected to God's love will keep the love alive and help you deal with anything that may try to push you down.

An important part of this test is visualizing a better future for yourself. God gives us the ability to envision images in your mind to utilize with the tools above to accomplish any goal and transform a situation.

Visualizing is another form of prayer as a way for God to answer your prayers. With these tools—faith, a positive attitude, love, and visualization of a better future—I, along with these other two women, were able to overcome what we thought was impossible. We are each survivors of cancer and have withstood the test. This test in which you are taking will come to an end, but it's up to you to fight, because the result is a matter of choices you make to get you there.

Chapter 1

About Me

Early Childhood

I was born in Guinea, West Africa. At the age of two until the age of nine I had to go live with my aunt in Cote d'Ivoire. My father was going to school in the United States, because he wanted a better life and a better education. My mother had no means to take care of my sister