If you haven’t read part 1 of Diane’s story, please read it here first. Three years after her official diagnosis, Diane experienced a turning point in her journey with bipolar disorder. She made a decision that would change how she viewed her mental illness and others who also had mental illnesses. “I wasn’t afraid any…
“When I was finally ready to share my diagnosis of bipolar disorder with the church, I was told it was probably not a good idea to go public with it. That same day, the wife of a male church member shared her husband’s cancer journey and asked for prayers. Many church members rallied around her…
If you haven’t read part 1 of Dianne’s story, please read it here first. God Protected Her One night after moving into her own apartment, Dianne invited a friend over to hang out. When Dianne heard footsteps outside the door, she opened it to find a man with a gun instead of her friend. He…
Dianne* met a couple of strip club dancers when she was 17 who encouraged her to dance, but she told them she wasn’t interested. So they encouraged her to turn tricks instead. * Her real name, used with permission. “I was too screwed up to get a job, and I needed money for drugs,” Dianne…
If only there’d been a National Child Abuse Prevention Month when Tammy* was 4 years old. Maybe someone would have believed her cries for help and stopped her abusers. * Her real name is used with permission. No Voice With a severe alcoholic as a mother and a step-father addicted to porn, Tammy had no…
Ann Hite’s* third novel, Where the Souls Go, continues the Pritchard family saga in the Black Mountain series. Annie Todd, Grace Jean’s daughter, is added to the multi-layered mix of a dysfunctional family in the North Carolina mountains. “Annie Todd’s journey with a ‘quite mad’ mother is reflective of my own journey with my bipolar mother,”…
If you haven’t read part 1 of Angie’s story, please read it here first. Six years after her first marriage ended, Angie met and married Mark. Health Struggles Resurfaced Angie’s health struggles resurfaced when she became pregnant with their daughter. A fibroid tumor that was eating the baby’s blood supply attached itself to the placenta. It could…
Angie* was too young to remember being abandoned by her mother, for she was only two years old. Their father’s week and a half leave from the Air force was the impetus for Angie’s mother to get all five kids loaded into the car to meet him at the airport. When Angie’s mother drove away after dropping them…