Rivers In The Desert: Life On The Flip Side

By Elena R. Jordan

Do you find it difficult to obey God when you don’t understand what He is doing in your life?

Elena R. Jordan tells her own story of reluctantly following God’s instructions to relocate to another state. Having to leave her hometown and family behind to start anew seemed unfathomable. Unforseen circumstances landed her in a homeless shelter. A place she never thought she would end up. Instead of having faith and trusting God in the transition, she finds comfort in a forbidden relationship to escape her lonliness and uncertanties.

What you will take away from Rivers In The Desert is to stay on the path that God has for you and trust the process that He’s taking you through. Having faith and obeying God is the key to all of God’s blessings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385002146

Elena R. Jordan

Elena R. Jordan is a mom, author and playwright. She currently lives in Fort Worth, TX. She graduated from Emporia State University with a Bachelors of Science in Sociology. She has worked in the behavioral health and social work field for over 15 years. Elena has a blog site called, Shine Your Life, where she likes to influence people through her writing to empower, uplift and encourage you to live your best life. She is committed to inspire people of all generations to use their God given gifts and talents to make a difference in the world for God’s glory.

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Copyright © 2023 Elena R. Jordan.

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Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0213-9 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0214-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023912949

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/14/2023

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

New Year, New State, New Life

The Big Crash And Fall

The Hustle

Greenway Park

The Salvation Army

Welcome Home

True Worth Place

Goodwill Industries

Calvary Baptist Church

Calvin Banks

Forbidden Territory

Sick And Tired

The Mysteries Of Men

People Come And Go

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Motel Getaway

Coming Back For More

Woodhaven

Love Peace And Harmony

Happy Holidays

DEDICATION

To my mother Thelma Greene who was the first one to recognize my writing talent. When I brought home my creative writing assignment in the 6th grade you saw that I had something special. You always made sure that I spoke proper English and never allowed me to use slang. I wish you were still here with me to see my 1st book to be published. Until I see you again, RIP.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, thank you for pulling me up out of darkness and for loving me and giving me the gift to write. To my dad Edward for always being there and caring about my wellbeing no matter how old I get and also who I can talk sports with. To my bonus mom Aurelia, you are one of my biggest cheerleaders. You always told me I had it in me to become an author. To my daughter Tyler you know how much I love you and thanks for supporting me in all my endeavors. To my sister Kim Henderson, you know I love girl. To my sister Katie Young, thanks for being my support system and keeping me encouraged through life’s challenges. To my cousin Brenda Palmer, thank you for supporting me and reading everything I have written and thank you for being a part of my table read. To my friend Khai, I want to thank you for pushing me and encouraging me to finally obey God to make the transition to Texas and wanting to except the lead role in my play. And also, for your encouraging words of wisdom. To my friend and fellow author Natalie Smith, you are another one of my supporters. Thank you for encouraging me to go ahead and press play on publishing this book. To my friend Ms. Akanbi, thank you for staying in my corner after all these years and putting up with my complaining lol. Most of all thank you for your support and your encouraging words. To my friend Charlotte Ford, what would I do without you. Thank you for pushing me to want better for myself and to never settle for mediocrity and to never give up when times get tough. To Connie Houston, thank you for supporting my writing and being a listening ear. To my dearest friend Twila Collins, thank you for hanging in with me since the 5th grade. Thank you for being my friend. Girl you are stuck with me for life lol. To another one of my childhood friends Anthony White, thank you for your support and words of wisdom and for also, encouraging me to trust and obey God for my move to Texas. To my friend Karl Burrell whom I have known since college at Emporia state. Thank you also for your support and being my IRA retirement agent. To Latonia Williams, Pamela Powell, Niki Mccollough and Jabarika Jones, you guys have been my friends and coworkers. Thank you for supporting me also through tough times. I love you guys and all of my friends and family.

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NEW YEAR, NEW STATE, NEW LIFE

I arrived in Fort Worth, Texas around 8:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. The trip from Phoenix, Arizona is a fifteen-hour drive, but it took me longer because I stopped and got a motel. I can’t do all that driving across the country nonstop like I used to. I’ll leave that up to the young folks.

I would have flown and had my car sent to Texas until I was quoted $900 for the transport. So, I figured I would just drive instead. That would’ve wiped out most of the money I had saved for the move, which wasn’t much.

Mitchell came out of the house as I was pulling up in the driveway.

Aye, you finally made it, he said.

Yes, that was a long ride, I said while getting out of the car. Man, y’all got toll roads!

Yeah! He chuckled.

I got to stay away from those, I said.

My car was packed full of my things. I opened the liftgate to start carrying things in the house, but Mitchell told me to go on in the house and he’d bring all my things in. I was grateful because I was too tired to carry anything in at that point anyway.

As I walked in the front door, I smelled fried chicken. I walked past the living room and entered the kitchen where Tracy was preparing dinner. That was right on time because I was starving. I hadn’t eaten anything since I left Odessa, Texas, to fuel up. Tracy looked up from the stove and said, Hey, you made it! And then gave me a big hug.

Girl yes! I said. That drive from Phoenix ain’t no joke. I couldn’t drive fifteen hours straight, so I got a motel.

I tried to get to Fort Worth before the sun dropped out of the sky because my night vision for driving is terrible now. The glare on the oncoming headlights makes it worse.

Dinner will be ready in a minute, she said.

As I followed her from the kitchen through the living room to the spare bedroom, I noticed that this was an older house built sometime in the 1950s. Mitchell was still bringing in my things and leaving them up against the wall in the hallway. Then I noticed there was not much space in the room because they didn’t make any space for me. She told me that it was an old house, so there was no extra closet space.

Sorry I didn’t make any room in the drawers. I didn’t have anywhere else to put my nephew’s clothes. I mean, he’s only six, she said. She had a nephew who would come over and spend the night sometimes.

I looked around the room and wondered how in the world I was going to organize my things and get comfortable. It was like a bedroom and sort of a storage room. There was a bed and a dresser that I couldn’t use and an old printer table. There were boxes full of clothes and junk, and there were several blankets stacked on top.

Tracy must have noticed the puzzled look on my face. She stated that they have had so many friends and relatives stay with them over the years during their marriage that they hadn’t had time just for themselves. So, therefore, if she doesn’t make much room, then maybe people won’t stay so long. I told her my plan was to get a job and my own apartment within a month, but she just looked at me and gave me no response.

Tracy headed back toward the kitchen to finish dinner. I felt like she thought I came to Texas to freeload off her and Mitchell. I proceeded to line all my boxes up against the wall by the door, making it a narrow path to walk into the room. I was only able to hang up a little bit of my clothes because there were already other clothes in the closet. This was how it was going to be until I got my own place.

You ready to eat? I heard Tracy call in from the kitchen. I went to the kitchen and sat down for dinner. She had fixed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

Tracy made Mitchell a plate, but instead of eating with us, he grabbed his plate and headed toward the bedroom to eat. I wasn’t sure what to think of that. Maybe he was giving us time to catch up.

Tracy and I caught up during dinner, and she did not mention why Mitchell decided to eat in the bedroom. She mentioned that they had just bought a German shepherd puppy that they kept outside in the gate on the side of the house. Later on, Mitchell came back to the kitchen to say that he was heading out for a while and would be back later.

Well, I have been up all day and I’m going to bed. Make yourself at home and I’ll see you in the morning. Not really big on the New Year’s Eve thing. It’s just another year and another day to me, she said.

I went and sat in the family room to try to watch some TV, but after that long drive I was just too tired to focus. So, I went and took a shower and then just stayed in my room for the rest of the night and thought about my new living situation.

I didn’t want to move to Texas. I was living my life in Arizona and was making plans to buy my third house, but God had other plans for my life. It’s not that I was so in love with Arizona, but I had settled in my mind that it was where I was going to live for the rest of my life. My dad and stepmom and my daughter were there, and I never wanted to leave them. The good Lord wanting me to move was something that I didn’t understand. Whatever He wanted to do for me in Texas I wondered why couldn’t He just do it in Arizona? What was so special about Texas? I laid across my bed and had a heart to heart with God.

Well, God, I’m here. This is what You wanted. I know it took me almost three years to obey You. When You told me the first time that it was time for me to relocate, I didn’t think You made any sense. I had just lost my job as a case manager and didn’t have any money to move. Then You told me two other times to move, and I still didn’t do anything about it. Then when You came to me for the fourth time in a dream, I knew You meant business. So here I am.

It was quarter till midnight, and the residents in the neighborhood started with the fireworks already. I could hear Tracy and Mitchell’s dog constantly barking outside from all the noise of the fireworks. I was sitting there thinking about how I was bringing in 2019 in a new state literally with a bang with all the sounds of firecrackers and bottle rockets. Then just like that, the dog stopped barking. Happy New Year to 2019!

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THE BIG CRASH AND FALL

I was really missing my family. I didn’t want to leave my dad because he had gotten sick and needed a bone marrow transplant, but neither me nor my sister, Candace, were a match. My dad almost died, but thanks to the doctor’s stem cell treatment, they gave life to his bone marrow that saved his life. But in reality, God gets the glory.

When God told me back in 2016 that it was time to move, I didn’t think it made much sense. I had just gotten fired from my job as a case manager, and unemployment didn’t even pay me enough to make a living wage. Two weeks prior to my being let go, my dad let me move in with him so I could stop paying rent and save up for a down payment to buy another house. I had lost my previous house during the crash of ’08 because I had gotten a huge cut in my salary so I could no longer pay the mortgage. I went into a slight depression because I was about to lose the house that I had watched being built from the ground for me and my six-year-old daughter Chloe at the time. I purchased a house in 04 when it was a sellers’ market. The housing market was so hot that it was a bidding war. Contracts were being bought so fast that the new build communities stopped selling to investors to make room for first-time buyers and primary residences.

No matter where I went I could not get a contract. Then the last builder I drove to told me that I would have to put my name in a drawing for a contract. I was not going to leave my home buying up to chance, so I decided to plead with the sales guy to do me a solid.

I was at my wits end trying to get a contract for a home because I had no chance of getting a preowned home because investors kept outbidding me with their cash. I made a decent salary, and my credit score was good enough for me to not settle for a subprime loan. Even then, my lender still tried to talk me into getting an adjustable-rate mortgage, but I refused, and he seemed to have an attitude behind it. An adjustable-rate mortgage is a loan where you can start out with a low interest rate that is set below a fixed rate only for a certain period of time. This looks attractive to a borrower with a low credit score who would not be able to buy a home at a fixed rate.

I managed to buy my house at a 30-year fixed rate. My daughter and I would drive by every week to watch our house be built. I remember when we were so excited when the construction crew broke ground. That was one of the happiest days of my life. I was getting a brand-new home built from the ground. We would drive by the lot every week until it was finished. Me and Chloe lived there for five years until the crash of 08.

I used to work for the state of Arizona, for the Department of Juvenile Corrections, the governor at the time was Jan Brewer. During her budget cuts, along with some tax adjustments, I lost almost $4000 off of my salary and therefore I was no longer able to pay my mortgage.

I tried to get a loan modification, but I was told I had to be at least three months behind on my mortgage before I could even file. So, I decided to stop paying the mortgage for three months and when I applied for the loan modification, it still wasn’t enough of a reduction to keep me afloat.

I continued to live in the House until I could do a short sale. Short selling a home is when the lender will agree to let a new buyer purchase the house for less than the original loan. When my realtor put my home on the market, I was receiving calls from prospective buyers wanting to buy my house. People were wanting to finance my home as well as cash buyers. My lender, who was Bank of America at the time, refused to short sell my home. I didn’t understand the reasoning behind it because they auctioned off my house for around $55,000, and the original loan amount was somewhere around $142,000.

That really broke my heart. I felt like there went my American dream. I had to downsize my three-bedroom home into a one-bedroom apartment. I had to sell most of my furniture. I told my daughter when I get into a better financial situation and move to a bigger place that I would buy her a whole new bedroom suite of her choice.

After living in that apartment for a little over a year, I was on my way to work one night. I was following behind a car that preceded to get into the left turn lane until she changed her mind and drove out of the turn lane and drove right into me. As I was driving toward the intersection. The driver tore up the whole left side of my car. The girl got out of her car and ran to my driver’s side window to ask me if I was okay.

What were you thinking? I asked.

I’m so sorry, she said. I meant to make a right turn,

Yeah, she turned right into me. I couldn’t even remember who called the police because when they showed up, they had to yank the door open to get me out. I ended up suffering whiplash and a sore back.

After all the medical expenses and getting my car fixed, I was awarded enough money to pay off the car three years early. This allowed me to have more money to afford a two-bedroom apartment. A short time after that, the apartment manager allowed me and Chloe to move into a two-bedroom and to restart my lease.

My daughter and I lived in the two-bedroom apartment for two years until I decided to rent a three-bed, two-bath house. Surprisingly, the rent was $100 cheaper than what I was paying for the apartment. My time living in the rental house felt just as if I had my own house. The one thing I didn’t miss was having to do my own yard work. Sometimes I would just hire someone and other times I did it myself. There was a time when I thought I would save some money when I went to Home Depot and bought a leaf blower. This turned out not to be a good idea. It is very hard to grow grass in Arizona, and I refused to put in the effort. So, I had rock landscaping but also, had to clean up the leaves from the trees and dig up the weeds.

Whether I was renting or buying the homeowners association would fine you for not keeping your yard neat and clean. To me, I felt like they had too much time on their hands and looked for any excuse to charge you a fine. I was doing pretty good at blowing all the leaves into a pile up against the house, but when I thought I turned the switch over to suction, it still blew outwards up against the house and back into my face. I even had dirt and a few specks of leaves in my mouth and up my nose. Yeah, I say my hat is off to landscapers because