Review: Love does not hurt, nor diminish.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 3, 2013
“Love is kind.”Love is gentle, supportive.Love is trust.Love is respect for each other.Love does not diminish, hurt, or cause fear.Love is not being in a relationship where you spend your days and nights feeling like you are walking on eggshells that just might trigger yet another eruption of cruelty.Wanda was blessed with thirty-two years of marriage – a couple grounded in love and respect for each other. Together this lovely couple began building their dream home on forty acres, working jobs to gather the building materials they needed. Together, hand in hand, they they poured not only sweat equity into their dream home, but love in each nail, each board watching their vision slowly become a reality as the seasons passed, as their children grew.This was a couple that we would hope would grow old together, living comfortably in their lovely home, surrounded by their children, grandchildren, and their deep faith in God. But a vision of the future does not always play out as we would want. In this case only two words defined her husband's lack of future – pancreatic cancer, a horrid disease that I personally watched literally devour a life.The husband gone, the dream house unfinished, the void for Wanda immense. After so many years with someone to love, to care for, to share with, it was only natural that Wanda would feel the immense emptiness and slowly begin to look for someone else to help fill that void. There is not one of us who does not know the need to love, to be loved.What we often don't become aware of is that in this state the aftermath of losing a dearly beloved, we are so vulnerable. For a woman of a certain age the club circuit holds no appeal. For a woman of such faith that would not do. If there was no one a possibility in her circles, in her church, today's world can lead to Internet groups looking for love. And so it did for Wanda.He gave all the right answers, said his faith was strong, his intent good. He gave all the right answers, and perhaps too much attention; attention that should have sent up many red flags. But again, for a woman who had shared real love for so long, red flags went unnoticed, ignored; excused, buried deep;  family judgments, warnings, unheeded.He seemed perfect, and that in itself should have been a warning sign. But they met, his Sunday manners all polished, his intentions seemingly good. And thus, the wedding.It takes a long time to truly know someone. But to find out on a wedding night that you have married Mr. OH SO WRONG; to find out that behind that perfect performance, that mask of decency, that your new husband is a cruel, brutal monster is oh so shattering.Wanda's journey through her unfinished home, through her nightmare new husband, is a true life story, all looking for love in all the wrong places, with all the wrong people,-- a must read for the realities of today's world.Join Wanda in her faith, in her journey, in her prayers and tribulations. Yes, divorce is something all would like to avoid, but the Creator does not want anyone to live in an abusive relationship. Again, “love is kind” and not pain. Courage comes in many ways. This is a book that truly can help you if the one who is supposed to love you is the enemy within; the partner who is not a partner; the partner who will not change despite your every effort. The partner who is cruel, destructive; the partner who does not know, nor care to know, what being a partner, what love really is.Wanda's courage will astound you; will help guide you out of a relationship that is destructive, diminishing, cruel. Just remember, when the fear of the unknown, the fear of living on your own is just a bit less than the pain of staying, it is time to go. Do it -- GO