by Janet V. Grillo, 2021
The library’s monthly biographies email recommended this book. I don’t know. She is a sweetheart, but she is so child-like, innocent, gullible. Her husband, Tony, committed suicide. Then she found out he was having one affair after another and she had to get tested for STDs. Thankfully, she didn’t have one, but she had had one about 5 years ago (chlamydia) and her doctor told her this is only sexually transmitted, but her husband denied being unfaithful, said the doctor was wrong, and she believed him. It also turns out he may have been involved with the Mafia. They lived in Wilmington, Delaware. They were the rich, country club set. And very heavy drinkers. After her husband died, she was on anxiety medication and she took those freely at the same time as continuing to drink heavily. And she cried and cried and cried. She would hole up for months on end, it sounded like. She would cry out to God, asking Him where was He. Somehow, someway, with a lot of help from a lot of people, she gradually healed and she wrote this book in hopes of helping others heal.
At the beginning of her healing process, she consulted mediums to try and talk with Tony. Supposedly, he did tell her several things – I’m sorry, get on with your life – it was all a game to me, etc. Then, she was convicted about using mediums because the Bible says not to, so she stopped consulting mediums. “But ultimately, as much as I wanted to hear the information from mediums, my Catholic faith began to convict me. I needed to trust God and His leadership in my life, not rely on what other humans were telling me. One day I turned to the Bible in search of God’s message to His people and found Micah 5:12: “I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no longer cast spells.”
“In the process of getting closer to God, I made a commitment to eliminate mediums from my life. From that moment, I chose to follow God’s chosen path and not rely on witchcraft. And I left the unanswered questions in God’s hands.”
She started reading the Bible, a lot. She wrote in a journal, a lot. She wrote letters to God, and several times, He wrote back. She read the book, The Secret, and bought into that completely. She used several self-help methods.
She moved to Florida in 2014 and has lived in Viera, Florida, since that time.
Here are some of the quotes I like:
She doesn’t know who said this: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there.”
Lord Chesterfield: “I recommend you take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.”
“The essential point is that it took my husband to die tragically, with a wayward life, for me to discover my true life’s purpose.”
One evening on a trip overseas she became distraught in a church in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, because it was like one she and Tony had seen in Italy. There was a kind sister there, who gave Janet her rosary, comforted her and promised to have a priest call her. He called her that night; they talked for 3 hours. “He explained to me that when we forgive someone, we are not excusing the act. He helped me see that forgiving Tony was the only way to free my mind and body from the pain.”…
“As much as I wanted to be positive, I found myself constantly thinking about the negatives. I noticed that my demeanor changed for the worse when I had negative thoughts.
“Out of survival, if a negative thought entered my mind, I made a firm commitment to immediately change my way of thinking.”
After 20 years, she writes: “We find our strength in looking forward, in reaching out and helping others, in forgiving.”
These are the things she’s learned for certain:
“-Our God, the God of Light, would not make us go through so much pain without having something beautiful on the other side.
“-God works miracles through ordinary events and the people in our lives. He does it through the love and goodwill deeds we do by helping others.
“-God is with us 100 percent of the time. Even when He doesn’t “feel” present, He is.
“-God will not always react to your needs in the way you expect.
“-God always responds to our faith.
“-The Bible supplies all of our answers to how we should live.”