Come Close and Listen (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798868511523)

"Many times, during the struggles, I did not see God working. It felt like I had been abandoned and left to figure things out on my own. Looking back, I could see His fingerprints everywhere. He never forgot about me. Once I grasped that, wounds began to heal."

Growing up in a family with a basis of faith and references to God, Ellen W. Smyth was unaware of just how much she would need to turn to God to overcome unpredictable traumas throughout her life. Losing her childhood, she lived with an absent father and an emotionally distant mother. She helped her family financially as a teenager when her parents divorced. She was sexually abused by a college professor which represented another new challenge. Yet through it all, God was with her.

Once retired, her personal journal writing class allowed her to sort through these experiences, discover her brokenness and seek out God until, ultimately, she found healing. Now, she wishes to encourage others who have gone through their own traumas by sharing her journey so that they can find redemption and be transformed.

Recorded in personal journals, COME CLOSE AND LISTEN, Ellen shares the painful road she traversed through most her life. Through raw and emotional story telling and poetry, she reveals difficulties such as loneliness, rejection, sexual abuse, and ongoing verbal accusations which lead to a divorce from her narcissistic husband of thirty years. Yet readers will bear witness to her growth as self-discovery led to finally grasping the truth of faith righteousness. Understanding what a gift this was, brought healing, freedom and joy.

For those teetering on the edge of desperation, know that you, too, can be led to your own level of self-discovery and find healing and freedom in the Lord.