The Journey Continues

By Sharon Shymansky Roberts

The Journey Continues, Sharon's second book, invites you once more to travel with her as she walks through life's trials and tribulations with God by her side. Readers will find themselves in her ordinary experiences and catch a glimpse of her inspiring faith. This is an inspirational accounting of her journey with the goal of bringing you, her readers, a step closer to recognizing that God walks with all of us every moment of every day. With that recognition, your own journey begins. "Your book is filled with hope, joy and faith...and motivates the reader to become a better person and a more energized and true Child of God. Kudos and congratulations! This is truly a wonderful and inspirational piece of literature." Father Paul MacNeil, Pastor, Precious Blood of Christ Parish

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781643009704

Book preview

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The Journey Continues

Sharon Shymansky Roberts

ISBN 978-1-64300-969-8 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64300-970-4 (Digital)

Copyright © 2018 Sharon Shymansky Roberts

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Dedication

To my three sons, DJ, Cory, and Ryan.

You lost your dad when you were just becoming young adults, and you have had to navigate life’s pitfalls with just the questionable wisdom of your mom. I hope you understand that in each situation you found yourselves, I was always holding you up in prayer.

Acknowledgements

With this second book, there are more people to thank than with the first! I didn’t intend to write this second book, but important things kept happening, and I kept writing!

So thank you to my husband, Dan, who is still my staunchest fan. Thanks for giving up time with me as I sat at my computer—lost in a world you couldn’t penetrate. I don’t ever mean to shut you out, and you seem to understand that. If you don’t, let me know, please! Thank you for allowing me to use our story and the whole embarrassing mustache thing! You are an amazing man and best friend!

To my friend and family editors who patiently read and reread my manuscript, looking for ways to make it better. You all did an awesome job: Jean and Frank Mudd, Diane Boyle, Sheryl Stamm, and Regina Wichrowski.

To our parish administrator and priest, Father Paul MacNeil, for reading my first book, giving me such positive feedback, and then eagerly agreeing to read this one. Thank you for giving me the title to a story I hadn’t even written at the time and thank you for allowing me to use it and your name.

To Dr. Victor Diaz, who saved my life and then agreed to let me use his name as I wrote about it. I am so fortunate it was your hands God used that day! You are such a blessing to our parish, our community, and to your home country.

To my sister, Sherrie, who has always lifted me up, and who was there with me as we suffered the losses of our mom and our brother. You

are

my family, and I love and need you more than you will ever know.

To Sam Graves, a dear friend of my family, who quite possibly saved my youngest son’s life. Thank you for watching over us.

To my youngest son, Ryan, for agreeing to talk with me for the first time about a hurtful chapter in our lives, for agreeing to write his side of the story, and for saying yes when I asked if we could combine our stories and include them in this book. Thank you to my daughter-in-law, Jenny, who stayed by his side and helped convince him to come home. Thank you for loving my son.

Their Parents’ Gift

The grandest gift, son, to you we can give

Is not our wealth or a place to live.

It’s not our love and it’s not our name,

Not even our power, or position, or fame.

Just one thing, son, is all you need

From your mom and dad for you to succeed:

You need to know, beyond any doubt,

That you’ve got what it takes to work things out.

Whatever the problem or trouble may be,

You can handle it, son, very easily.

For when you were born, God broke the mold.

You’re a special miracle, a joy to behold.

You cannot fail; you were born to win,

And when you succeed, give the Glory to Him.

written by Sharon Shymansky Roberts

Introduction

Just like in the introduction to my first book, I am still a sixty-something retired English teacher, but if this book doesn’t get published pretty quickly, that chapter of my life will be history. At least the sixty-something part will be! Oh well, you are never too old or too young to serve the Lord, and that’s what I hope these books do—serve the Lord. Serve Him by bringing you, my reader, into an even closer relationship with Him. Through my life stories, I pray that you see yourself, and that you begin to recognize the hand He has had in your life as well.

As you might have read in the introduction to My Journey, His Plan, there was a sense of urgency in writing that book—finishing it. There was one person who was supposed to read it. That message had come through clearly. But who? The answer