"The Clouds We So Much Dread" Book Giveaway

By Sharon Stoltzfus


One October day I would receive the news that literally dropped me to my knees. 
Will I ever forget the nearly unintelligible wail of anguish, “She’s dead!” The horror of the reality
that my beautiful 18 year old daughter was unable to continue to battle the demons of despair. 
Her depression ending in the tragic taking of her own life. She’d never truly healed from losing 
her daddy at the tender age of six.

The repercussions of that trauma in my other children’s lives has been harsh and relentless.
The ongoing aftermath leading to a fall from faith and unhealthy addictions in some. 
Losing a loved one to suicide brings an additional dimension to the heartache of bereavement.

My relationship with my Lord and Savior however, has become more vital than ever. My 
dependence upon His daily grace dire. I find myself desperate for His sustenance and that not 
an unwelcome place to be. My communion with Him a sweet respite in this world of sorrow. And 
it is my heart’s desire that what I have walked through can point others to the hope and healing 
available in Jesus. That joy and peace can be had despite heartaches and grief. That our 
Sovereign God is the Ultimate Author of healing and redemption. I await with confidence 
knowing He is faithful.

Sharon Stoltzfus lost her first husband Vernon to cancer in 2007, and has since buried one of 
her daughters. She knows the road of suffering and grief.

 This week we are giving away her book "The Clouds We So Much Dread." 
You can enter to win on Instagram or Facebook.

 Here is what the book is about in Sharon's words: 

Summer of 2006. Life was good, life was full. Our children, ages four, six, eight, and ten, busy 
with the summer bliss of no school, no schedule, pool, and popsicles. My husband Vernon, 
busy with summer landscaping, came home one day in July with a persistent pain. We were 
not folks to run to doctors on a whim, but morning left us no option. Life as we knew it ended 
that day. This book contains the journal entries I kept for the next year and a half. While some 
minimal editing has been done, most was left as I wrote it. There has been no hindsight 
applied, no rewriting with what was later learned. And nothing was written with the knowledge
of what the future held. Although my aim was to be completely honest, out of respect for
Vernon and my children I left some things unsaid. Living with a suffering person requires a 
special kind of grace and God was always faithful.
This site is a collection of real stories by real people about The Rock in their hard places. It is curated and edited by Kara Ranck, who is a wife and mother of two children living in Pennsylvania. Kara herself has traveled some hard places in life and knows there is hope and power when we tell our personal stories about The Rock, which brings us through. Thank you for joining us here!

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