The Encounter

By D.M. Ceaser

Loosely based on a true story, Elena Marie Hogan grew up in the inner city of Los Angeles. A woman with a strong compassion for people, and a true heart of gold. Helping people out whenever she saw a need, seem to come as second nature to her, even most times in her own life, of coming last. After years, of giving so much of herself to everyone, she suddenly realizes that life is practically passing her by. So Elena tries to recapture some of her old dreams, but ends up having several setbacks. Along with having a difficult time finding a job with the way the economy is going. Elena soon has a tough time making it on her own and has to move in with her mom and an abusive stepfather. She often prays to God for his strength and help, believing that He will one day make a way out of all the chaos and turmoil. At times, to shut out the noise of bickering and fighting she would find solace escaping to her audio-books. The romance stories often have Elena longing to have a love of her own, but with the way her life now is, it's hard at times for her to believe that it could ever be possible. Still she continues to pray and believe, with all her heart, in God's word. The encounter is about a woman's unwavering faith in God and the hope of someday finding love. Her Journey will one day lead her to the other side of the world. Where she will have an unexpected encounter with the one she has been waiting for all her life - Her destiny, strongly confirming that God's promises never fail, His word is the Infallible truth. And only He can make impossible things be possible. Jeremiah 29:11, Matthew 19:26, Luke 18:27, Mark 9:26, Psalm 119:160

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640036185

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Acknowledgement

I give all praise, and honor to my Heavenly Father for the things he has done and continue to do in my life. I thank you Lord God for placing in me the gift of creativity. May I always appreciate and work to develop this gift to its highest abilities. May I always acknowledge that this gift comes from you and remains to be yours. Please guide me in using this gift that you have so graciously entrusted to me to benefit the lives of everyone I touch or inspire and may I always guide them to you.

I love you Lord Jesus.

The Lady

Most would describe Elena Marie Hogan as gentle, a woman with the sweetest heart you’d ever want to know. Others would say she has a heart as big as the ocean. Either way you express it clearly says that her heart was enormous for all things. She started her adolescence late in life. Being shy and untrusting of people, mainly men, has kept her forever in the category of never been. Quiet, and soft spoken at times, an average-looking beauty to most, with beautiful soft and supple skin that has been lightly touched by the sun.

She stood at 5' 6" with gorgeous long auburn locks that have several lighter tones of shades softly flowing through her thick lustrous waves, which she normally wore most times up in a ponytail—a voluptuously petite woman who has a smile that could light up a room. Oftentimes, she would enjoy spending her days carelessly wandering through the park: listening to the sounds of the children’s voices playing off in the distance, hearing the wind gently whispering through the trees while watching the squirrels frolic on the outstretched tree limbs, and seeing the foliage change its colors through the seasons. Or you’d most likely find her strolling along the shoreline as the tide slowly rolls in.

Her love for all things creative is her life’s passion. Anything from baking up one of her delicious culinary sweet and buttery pastries to drawing, painting, or putting together one of her beautiful personalized gift baskets—just to name a few—would often give her the greatest joy. When she’s not at work, creating her special gift baskets or baking up something warm and gooey, one of her most favorite pastimes is listening to her diverse collection of music and countless selection of audio books, whenever she could find the time. She would cozy up with her favorite blanket in a comfortable chair and get lost for hours just listening to all of her numerous interests of audio novels: anything from murder mysteries, thrillers, and suspense to contemporary dramas, poetry, and the classics. She enjoyed them all. Truth be told, her most favorites of them were the romance novels.

Oftentimes, Elena would try to imagine what it would be like for her to share a passionate relationship with someone, but she never could quite believe that such a wondrous romantic life could be possible for her—to ever experience an amazing love so rich and full as those in her romance stories.

Hopes and Dreams

Elena has always worked hard most of her life. For years, she took different short-term temp jobs. Starting first, working as a teacher’s aide with preschoolers in the day cares, then later moving into the healthcare profession working with the elderly in the hospitals and taking more lucrative positions as the opportunities presented themselves. But being a caregiver was her nature. Helping others seem to come naturally easy, especially when it came to her family. She could never find the heart to say no.

However, with that, Elena always came last. She never seemed to have any time for herself. Friends she had known over the years, whom she would hear about from time to time that had gotten married or were starting a family, would sometimes sadden her, seeing that her life seemed to be all about work. And the time continued to pass.

Still, she felt that helping others was admirable, and believed it was the right thing to do. She would continuously try to convince herself that it was enough just to be needed; but late at night, when it was quiet and she was alone, she would wonder. Would she ever have someone who would love, and cherish, or care for her? Would she ever feel the love of a man’s strong arms around her or have him hold her face gently between his hands, stare softly in her eyes, and whisper, I love you?

Prayers and Faith

As the years continued moving on, Elena became weary and discouraged, constantly reflecting back on her life and all the things she never got the chance to do—all her dreams that slipped away because she never got the opportunity to fulfill them. It left her feeling dissatisfied and longing to be happy, to try and recapture some of those lost dreams. But like most people who go through adversities, and hard times in life, she was no exception. Elena would continuously pray for God’s guidance and strength to persevere through them. Such as being unemployed for four years, even though she was sending out resumes and applications every week, causing her to feel even more discouraged and frustrated because she still wasn’t getting any replies. Until the last week of that fourth year, when she finally acquired employment working at one of the top leading healthcare facilities in the country. Elena was working in a position that gave her great opportunities to advance and she was doing something fulfilling and that she really enjoyed. She assumed at the time she was hired, that she was filling in for a full-time position that she applied for. So she felt secure in knowing that she would be a permanent part of that healthcare facility for a very long time, especially when she received outstanding performance remarks on all of her evaluation reviews. This is why the dismissal letter she received one morning at work, came as such an upsetting blow to Elena, because without any warning she was terminated after just seven months, due to the department downsizing. She was confused, and hurt, and quite frankly ticked off, however, she was the last to be hired so unfortunately, she was the first to be fired.

Elena feeling frustrated that she was no longer going to be making enough to pay her bills or rent, and sadly aware that she would soon need to move but knowing that she had nowhere else to go, she had no choice but to move in with her mom and stepfather, who could often be a mean and cruel tyrant who would frequently take his anger and frustrations out on her mom and Elena. It was extremely hard at times. Through many prayers and a lot of tears she had to endure his hurtful, bitter tirades and physical threats that he would often inflict out on her mom. While Elena still had to manage to slowly recuperate at times from uncomfortable wrist and ankle injuries, two painful knee surgeries, minor health illnesses through the years, and several families’ major ones as well. Then later as her health improved, she attempted to take night courses at the community college while she tried to juggle school and working three jobs, basically starting over. Elena would often seek the Lord and pray for God’s abundant favor to show up and overtake her, always expecting for a miracle to somehow take place, for the heavens to open up and pour out on her rivers of God’s infinite blessings that there would not be enough room to contain. She held firmly to God’s word and his promises with all her heart because she knew that his promises are true and would one day very soon happen for her.

Blessings

Then like overnight, that miraculous day finally came along, and with it the start of something she never knew could ever be possible were it not for God’s favor and abundant blessings that began to constantly flow in massive waves. A major one happened on an ordinary day as she was running an errand. A financial blessing had been expected, but what took place was something much greater than either she or anyone could have ever predicted. God’s word says in Ephesians 3:20 (NIV), Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

This financial title wave overtook her so profoundly that it affected not just the lives of Elena and her family but so many others as well. God greatly honored her to be wonderfully blessed, so that she could reach out and be a blessing through her giving while sharing God’s immeasurable love for them. This immense abundance of wealth enabled her to do just that and so much more than she had ever hoped to do. Besides finally being able to help her mom escape from the abusive relationship, Elena bought a beautiful home; started her own home-based business; gave to various charities, missions, and ministries; made a sizable donations to a number of orphanages; and helped to fund a few Native American schools.

Being able to help so many people was such a wonderful experience. It far surpassed any dream she could have ever hoped to achieve. Once more, to be used by the Lord to bless so many in such a profound way was amazing, but Elena was starting to become a little overwhelmed. She needed to get away for a while, and go to a place she only ever dreamed about. So one day, she called her mom to say goodbye, and she set off for a long adventure.

The Trip

Among all the many places Elena was so fortunately able to now travel and explore, one country she still longed to see was Norway, the homeland of the Vikings. It was a far cry and much different from all she ever knew, growing up poor in the inner city: