If It Had Not Been for the Lord by Rosalyn Walton

Publisher:  AuthorHouse
Pages:  148
Source:  Borrowed
Genre:  Adult, Inspirational

I was visiting the classroom of one of my friends at school and we were discussing books.  I told her that I was feeling discouraged I had been unable to find a publisher for my book and was thinking I would need to go with ebook or self-publishing.  She then informed me that her mother had self-published a book.  She went to her closet and brought it out and let me borrow it.  I sat down and read the book in one setting.  It is the story of Sharon's mother Rosalyn Walton.  It is the story of her walk with the Lord when she discovers she has liver cancer.  She takes the reader through the steps of denial and grief and how as humans we get angry and pull away from God only to realize he is the only one who can get us through whatever we are going through.  I gained strength and inspiration from this story.  Had it been one of those feel good stories where she had stayed positive throughout the entire story I would have not been impressed.  Instead we see the human weakness and how frail our spirit becomes until we remember to take our hands away and turn it over to God.  It made me remember a time 21 years ago when I screamed at God for taking away my fiance.  He had a rare blood cancer.  I remember his father and my father and their entire gospel quartet laying hands on him and annointing him and praying for healing.  When he died I screamed at God and called him a liar.  He had not healed Mark.  My mom and dad let me rant all night.  Around five o'clock the next morning, exhausted and cried out, I was able to let go and listen to God.  It was then that he spoke to me a made me realize he had healed Mark, that he was given the ultimate healing and was with him.  Whenever I lose a friend or a loved one I remind myself that it may be hard for me but God has given the ultimate healing.  I hope that my friend Sharon was able to realize that when her mother finally lost the battle with the cancer, and took comfort in the fact that we will one day see them again.  I would recommend this book to everyone as something to remind us that if God is on our side we need no one else.