A review by Cynthia Mastro

Dawn begins her book with the fulfillment of a long-held dream: to become a nurse.  She continues her life story by relating the ups and downs of combining nursing with marriage and three children and, all the while, she yearns for a deeper relationship with God.  At times, she is plagued by self doubts, feelings of failure, and the stress of trying to be a perfect wife, mother, daughter, and nurse.  During one especially low point, she kneels by the bed and gives herself totally to God.

Dawn went to counseling, attended retreats, met with a spiritual director for years, and enrolled in a three-year course to become a spiritual director herself.  She also continued her longtime practice of keeping a journal and having specified prayer times.  Painting and her love of the outdoors, nurtured as a child in Canada, have also been a continuing part of Dawn’s spiritual life.

As she has traveled through the various stages of her life, including divorce and remarriage, moving to North Carolina and back to Wisconsin, she was also traveling a strengthening and joyful spiritual path.  Dawn tells her life story and her spiritual story with great honesty, openness, and humor.  It is the story of a new beginning, a healing, and a transformation through God’s never failing love.

I knew Dawn and her second husband when they lived in North Carolina and attended the same Episcopal church that my husband and I attended.  I can identify with the stages of life that Dawn writes about as well as a need for a deeper relationship with God.  Dawn was very active in the church and encouraged others to find and travel their own deeper, spiritual paths.  

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