“A Powerful Emotional & Spiritual Journey”

Connie Myslik-McFadden
January – February 2021 • Vol 3, No 113

When a coffee mug slips out of Celeste O’Connell’s hand and shatters on her tile floor, she realizes something is terribly wrong with her. The recent stumbles on the stairs, the deepening of her voice, the weakness in her right arm and leg, are part of a mysterious pattern of frightening changes in her body.

Celeste is diagnosed with a terminal illness. She struggles to accept her fate and the loss of everything she loves—her husband, her college-age children, her work, and the rugged, spectacular Montana environment in which she lives. She creates a bucket list and tries to complete everything on the list, but as her symptoms worsen, she finds she cannot. A startling dream leads Celeste to a therapist who helps her explore her dreams and long-neglected beliefs about life and death.

Excerpts—
Celeste thought about the Ten Commandments. How many had she broken? She had not committed adultery (though tempted twice), nor stolen, nor murdered anyone. Well, maybe in her heart once or twice. She had certainly taken the name of the Lord in vain, swearing more times than she wanted anyone, especially God, to know. She definitely coveted her neighbor’s gorgeous log home on a knoll high above the river. And what about the first commandment? ‘Love the Lord thy God with all your heart and soul,’ that one. Not even close. How could she obey that first commandment when she wasn’t even sure God existed? He or She was an idea, not a reality.

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