His Love Called My Name: An Inspiring Story of Faith and Hope Following Tragedy

by Angel Eyes

Overview

Stuck in relationship with a husband who made her life miserable, Angel kept trying to do the best for her daughter, Sami, but faced many challenges. Each time things appeared to be getting better, they actually got worse.

One night, she woke up to smoke and found that her feet were on fire. In a daze, her main concern was getting her daughter to safety; luckily, her daughter was already safe. Angel found herself trapped in a burning inferno with no hope of escape. Yet miraculously rescued. She had sustained second, third, and fourth degree burns on 65 percent of her body-her life would never be the same.

She was in a coma for over ten weeks. As she recovered, she learned that her husband was responsible for setting the fi re that almost killed her. She quietly began to build a new life, discovering that despite the limitations of her new life, anything is possible with God's love and support.

His Love Called My Name chronicles Angel's journey from the depths of despair and pain to a life well-lived with the support of her family and the everlasting love of God.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475947298
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/19/2012
Pages:	108
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.26(d)

Read an Excerpt

HIS LOVE CALLED MY NAME

An Inspiring Story of Faith and Hope following Tragedy

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By ANGEL EYES

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Angel Robey
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-4729-8

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Chapter One

FEAR OF FIRE

Growing up in the late 70's and mid 80's was an adventure to say the least. We, grew up watching 30 minute sitcoms, listening to records and even some 8 tracks, Elvis was still a popular buy. I can only dream now of what I'd call those good ole' days. Clothes meant a lot more to me, and were made much more modestly than the fashion now. Buddies, sneakers, Reeboks, Nikes tennis shoes were totally in. Today's youth may call that time boring, but I loved it.

My family went to church every Sunday together. My siblings and I learned bible stories, and the facts of Heaven and Hell. Mom wanted us to be grounded with God's word instilled in our hearts. As we learned about Hell, my friends and I were shown films in detail in church, about how horrible it was. I believe that's where my fear of fire started. Those films showed flames awaiting those who didn't live right, and the eternal torment they would suffer too horrible to imagine. It was such a contrast to Heaven. This place was beautifully described as eternal happiness for those who chose to live their lives upright.

Morality was taught by my dad. His famous sayings were: "can't never could do nothing", in other words, at least try. Others included, "there is no such word as can't, and "I don't care if I'm wrong or right, I'm always right". And the one I live by now, "you make your bed, you lie in it. This would have many people saying our parents were very strict. My siblings and I may not have always agreed with them, but at that time, the parents' direction was respected.

We were brought up on the family inherited farm, in a trailer at first. At times it was crowded, other times it seemed perfect. We even had a family dog that we adored. On the farm, we had a lot of room to explore and roam, and that we did.

Across from the trailer was an old house that my siblings and I swore was haunted. At one time, my dad's side of the family lived in it. Then there was always school. And chores done early in the morning before school and in the afternoon when we returned home. Mornings after chores, breakfast and getting ready for school, we traveled down the long rocky driveway. Sometimes we'd catch ourselves running late to catch the bus. Every day was a normal routine for us, except one day in particular.

It began normal as any other day, getting up, chores, eating breakfast, but that day I wasn't feeling too well. I really wanted to stay home. But something compelled me to go on to school. Later on that day, I discovered the value of my compulsion. My siblings and I were called out of class and told our trailer had caught fire and burned to the ground in minutes. We even lost our precious dog. Had I stayed home that day, I wouldn't have made it out either. We were all in shock. Our home, our things, our dog, completely destroyed.

We stayed with our grandparents until the house on the farm was made our new home. The community really reached out. Along with items Mom and Dad bought, we were brought things by friends and acquaintances, and even people we had never met. It seemed as if we had more than what we started out with. We were thankful for everything.

As our lives were rebuilt, we were taught to go on after such devastation. I believe it made us all a lot stronger.

Time never stopped and neither did our lives. We grew up and started doing our own things. I started dating, and hanging out with people that my parents' very much disapproved of. The more they tried to tighten the reins on me, the more I fought them. I even began skipping school. One time, a couple of my friends got a ride from a friend of mine, and some guy who had a car. We decided to go out of town and on the way, I happened to look up at the driver in the mirror. I later found out his name was Wayne. As our eyes met in the mirror, they seemed to lock. And from that day, till we met again, (much later) there seemed to be something there.

As graduation neared, I got my first car, started working, meeting yet more new people, and having the time of my life.

At my place of employment, I worked with some people I already knew, others I met there. I had noticed one guy in particular. He was happy go lucky, friendly and his name was Wayne. Yes, he was the guy who gave my friends and I a ride skipping school. There was another guy named Tracy who also worked with us. He was totally opposite of Wayne. Tracy was arrogant, a loner, and didn't care about how people felt about him. He always seemed to carry a chip on his shoulder, and made sure everyone knew it.

Eventually Wayne and I became close. He even came to my parents' house with me and hung out with others. We went to malls and walked around, even just drove around town. We became really good friends. My associates at work were trying everything to get us together. But, I think we both felt like the other just wanted things to stay as they were.

It was at that time, Tracy started pursuing me, but my parents did not like him at all. But for some reason, I was drawn to him, and his bad attitude. The more Tracy and I saw each other, the more my parents and I fought.

I finally moved out of my parents' house and into an apartment with some high school buddies. At first it was good, but then the partying began. My roommates informed me they didn't like Tracy, and that caused Tracy and me to always be at odds.

There were times I didn't need roommates to cause Tracy and me to fight. Tracy did that all by himself. At one point, he informed me that we couldn't go out on the weekends anymore. I came to find out that he had a girlfriend, and I thought that was the reason for the cancellation of our fun on the weekends. As Tracy and I became closer, he told me that he'd broken it off with his girlfriend in a letter he wrote her. So I thought things would start looking up. Instead I found out the truth about Tracy's weekends. He was serving weekends in jail for crimes he had committed before we met, and seems he was still talking to his girlfriend.

Not long after, a dozen roses were delivered to me. Tracy stopped by to see that I had received them. I acted like I didn't know what he was talking about, and pitched them in the trash, and walked out to my car. Tracy followed me out to my car, and ended up shattering the passenger side of my window of my car. This was the start of a volatile relationship with Tracy.

Every time Tracy and I broke up, Wayne and I would start hanging out again. Those were the peaceful times. Wayne didn't hesitate to show me just how different he was from Tracy. During one of our trips to the mall, I noticed a beautiful pearl and diamond ring. Wayne bought it for me! He presented it to me and seeing my surprised look, he said, "you liked it didn't you?"—I considered it to be a friendship ring, and wore it proudly.

My escape from reality didn't last too long. My roommate situation and Tracy issues were always there to smack me in the face when I returned home. One particular time, I came home to find one of my roommates had locked herself in the bathroom. As we got the door opened, we found her lying face down in the bath tub. I was done there. I'd had enough.

I called my parents and asked to come home. They agreed on one condition.... I wasn't to see Tracy again. I agreed and we went to pick up my stuff. I let Tracy know I no longer wanted anything to do with him anymore. Of course he didn't like it much, but at the time, I didn't care because I thought I'd left that part of my life behind.

Each and every day became somewhat easier, but I still had to face Tracy at work. He tried to approach me a lot. Eventually, I did end up talking with him, but I wasn't aware he was thinking we were on our way to reconciliation. He wasn't one for backing down especially when he thought there was competition.

Little did I know, he had been watching how much time Wayne and I were spending together, and noticed that my parents gave their blessing to me spending time with Wayne. That sure didn't set well with him. Wayne and I were just friends who enjoyed one another's company.

Tracy confronted me about Wayne, he wasn't happy accepting my explanation of friendship. Tracy and I were not dating, but still ended up fighting over and over about it. Wayne was always there to cheer me up, and never expected anything in return. That all changed one day after riding around. We stopped in to see our friends at work, but before we went in, Wayne leaned over and kissed me. I wasn't sure what that was all about, but all our friends just happened to see it. They assumed we were together. We were both shy then, so we never pursued it farther. I think we were both afraid it would hurt our friendship. The "kiss" was never mentioned, and it didn't happen again.

Since everyone at work saw the kiss, of course it got back to Tracy. He confronted me, and even though I had no ties to him he demanded an explanation. I left him waiting for an answer. Mad, hurt and confused, I wanted even less to do with Tracy.

There was no way I going to let this affect my relationship with Wayne. He had done nothing wrong. Our friendship was priceless, and so uncomplicated, even after that awkward moment. To be honest, when I was with Wayne, I didn't miss the fighting with Tracy. It would've drained the happiness right out of me had Wayne not been there.

SCRIPTURE 2

LET HIM THAT STOLE STEAL NO MORE: BUT RATHER LET HIM LABOUR, WORKING WITH HIS HANDS THE THING WHICH IS GOOD, THAT HE MAY HAVE TO GIVE TO HIM THAT NEEDETH.

KJV EPHESIANS 4:28

Chapter Two

ROCK-A-BYE BABY

Eventually, even Wayne's friendship wasn't enough to keep me away from Tracy. I was sneaking out and going to visit him at the jail. As any young kid does, I ended up getting caught, thanks to a friend of my parents who worked as a jailer. My parents were angry, and that's putting it mildly. Staying away from Tracy was the only thing they'd asked of me and I was doing everything BUT staying away from him.

My youth got the better of me and I decided that I was old enough to make my own decisions and moved all my stuff out of my parents' house while they were out. I was sure that it was only a matter of time before Tracy would see the error of his ways and become the perfect man.

With freedom again, I had no idea of where I was going. I ended up staying with different people.

In no time at all, Tracy and I were officially back together. I was bound and determined to prove my parents wrong about Tracy. For a while he and I, were actually in a calm relationship, and things seemed to be going my way. Then came the phone call from my mother that ended in an argument and me hanging up on her at work. I wanted her to know that I had no interest in hearing her complain about Tracy.

It wasn't a few days later that she called again. As I was about to hang up again, she got my attention by telling me there were letters at home for me concerning more than a few bounced checks from my account. I knew that I hadn't bounced any checks. With the help of a family friend, I found out that my former roommates had stolen my checks and forged them. With all of Tracy's issues with the law, I knew I didn't want any. So I got up the courage to prosecute and I won. That's when I realized that if I had to, I could stand on my own. I even had my mom's support through all of that.

Still not having a permanent place to stay, I would stay off and on at my grandmother's house. I came out one day to find a note on my windshield. It was from Wayne, he wanted to talk.

I decided to keep this to myself and go see what he wanted. After I met with him, I left crying. We had basically told each other goodbye. I had just lost my best friend.

Not caring too much about anything now, and feeling so far away from God that I couldn't go to him, I felt I had nothing else to lose. So Tracy and I moved into a trailer together. He worked during the week, and served weekends in jail, with work release privileges, so when he could get away, we decided to elope. Tracy was unprepared and asked me to use the ring Wayne had gotten me as my wedding ring. It wasn't long until everyone, including my parents heard the news.

This was the beginning of a whirlwind in my life. Both of us worked, and we were constantly moving due to Tracy not being able to keep a job, this went on for ½ our marriage. His inability to keep a job was partly due to his juvenile diabetes that he never controlled. When his sugar was out of control, so was he. With insulin reactions, he went into rages, and I always seemed to be in the way of them. I received many injuries that I made excuses for during these episodes, but I just dealt with them. By this time, I could only hope and know it would get better..

Still moving and switching jobs too many to mention, I began to feel ill a lot. After no answers from doctors, even they ruled out pregnancy. We then decided to go to a pregnancy clinic and have me tested. Moments later, a nurse came in smiling with news that I was 9 weeks pregnant. I was stunned, scared, shocked but mostly elated. I silently thanked God for hearing my prayers. Tracy even seemed happy. We began to share the news with our family and friends. Along with our news, some were happy others not so much. They knew our relationship was not good to bring a child into.

I just knew that this would be our new beginning to a major change for the good. I wanted happiness and to get back into church. We visited a local church but it just didn't feel right to me and I had to consider the little one growing inside of me. But the happiness and a moment of security didn't last long. Tracy was again changing jobs and I was losing hope of ever seeing that new beginning.

Again we moved back to our home town. I found a doctor and had my first ultrasound. The technician asked if we wanted to know what we were having. We were having a baby GIRL!!! I felt that excitement of hope again, for a girl is what I prayed for. Even Tracy, who'd become distant throughout my pregnancy was happy for a daughter. He admitted to me he didn't want a son to inherit his diabetes issues, health issues and legal issues. As he said this, I could only hope our daughter wouldn't have diabetes too. But I so longed to see this beautiful face of the baby growing within me. I prayed she'd have his big brown eyes and long lush eye lashes.

Day by day, I began to gain more and more weight. This started depressing me. But that wasn't the only thing that kept my spirits down. Tracy still couldn't keep a job, and stayed gone a lot. But, with his absence we fought a lot less. The families threw us a shower and we got amazing baby stuff. That's when I realized I could try and be happy for the coming of our baby girl. The peace was nice and I tried holding onto my dream of that new beginning.

But, that was not to be. Tracy failed to eat right, his sugar would drop, or he'd have high sugar readings. These were the episodes in our marriage I didn't miss. He'd be totally different during these times. Sometimes angry, other times really mellow, then he'd start laughing and doing weird things. He'd even get to where he didn't know where he was, or who I was. It was horrible.

Days passed and I could feel my baby girl growing, as this happened, my hope grew also.

Randomly out of nowhere, Tracy shows up with this beautiful rocking chair. I asked him how he could afford this, and all he'd tell me was, it was taken care of. Maybe he and his boss worked out a layaway deal, it was all I could hope for. But there was no deal and my hope was crushed only a few days later.

As Tracy came home from work, he brought most of the town's finest, with sirens and lights blazing. What had he done? Was I never to have that peace? That chance for a new beginning? Tracy came in, glanced at me, looked away as officers led him into a separate room of our apartment.

Then a lady officer approached me, and I was also led into a room away from where Tracy was being questioned. The lady officer proceeded questioning me about how we came to get the rocking chair. All I could tell her was what Tracy told me when he brought it home, "it was taken care of."

After what seemed like forever, they were leaving the room with me following them. I stood stunned as Tracy was being handcuffed. As he was being led away, he looked at me, probably wondering if I'd still be there when he returned. Let him sweat. I was hurt and furious. But, we were married and expecting a child, I felt I had to help him.

I called his mother, she and a friend who was working in the police force, who was able to help. Within a day or 2 he'd be released awaiting a court date. I knew he was angry he'd gotten caught, his mother was angry because once again he was in trouble with the law. I should've run for the hills, but I was 9 months pregnant and, well, there was no other reason. Giving him the silent treatment when he returned, I decided to let him deal with it. Had I known it was stolen that day, I'd taken it back myself, better yet, made him take it back himself.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from HIS LOVE CALLED MY NAME by ANGEL EYES Copyright © 2012 by Angel Robey. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

PREFACE....................v
DEDICATION....................vii
Chapter 1 FEAR OF FIRE....................1
Chapter 2 ROCK-A-BYE BABY....................9
Chapter 3 THE ARRIVAL and DALLAS, TEXAS BOUND....................17
Chapter 4 TENNESSEE BOUND WITH MY HEAD IN A CLOUD....................23
Chapter 5 STARTING ANEW ... AGAIN TO TRAGEDY....................29
Chapter 6 A TIME OF DESTRUCTION....................35
Chapter 7 HIS LOVE CALLED MY NAME....................39
Chapter 8 WHO WAS THIS PERSON?....................47
Chapter 9 THE JOURNEY....................53
Chapter 10 ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY....................59
Chapter 11 GOING HOME TO KENTUCKY....................65
Chapter 12 UNANIMOUS VERDICT....................71
Chapter 13 CHASE AND CAPTURE....................75
Chapter 14 A NEW BEGINNING....................81
Chapter 15 FORGIVENESS....................87
AFTER THOUGHTS....................91
BIOGRAPHY....................93