Raising Attabury: A Contemporary Christian Epic-Novel (The Grace Series Book 5)
Page 55
Because “Raising Attabury” is not your typical romance but rather the re-kindling of a romance that’s nearly dead, I know it has probably brought up things in many of my readers. I know readers read romance to “get away” from the drudgery of life—not to be plunged into someone else’s. So I just want to say to those who might think this sort of thing doesn’t happen, that a marriage in such dire straits is, in fact, doomed to fail, much of what I’ve written here reflects my own journey. Much like Dani and Eric, I had gotten “everything I’d ever wanted,” and yet I found myself miserable. That made no sense, so I went on a quest to understand it.
I read a lot. Most of the things the pastor talks about are reflections of things I read at the time of my own search. I can so relate to Dani’s overwhelm and Eric’s sense of being all alone even as you live with someone else. I know all about going through the motions and looking good to the outside world while you quietly wonder why life is so difficult and if it’s even worth it, not to even mention questioning what the point of all of it is. In my own journey, I know full well about this being “about YOU! Not about the other person!” I know because I lived that for a lot of years before my “other person” started picking up on the change in me and beginning his own journey.
I really have learned that a spouse or parent or child’s happiness is about them and God. You are not responsible for making them happy. That lesson alone, for me, was life-changing. Coming out of being a card-carrying “people pleaser,” it took me a long time to really get that. For many years, I worked on me and my relationship with God and prayed for him. Those are not idle words, I am convinced they are what saved my marriage from at best being a going-through-the-motions thing. So if you’re in the boat I was, please know that there is help and hope.
While Dani and Eric’s story is fictional, along the way, God gave me the many nuggets of truth they each read that eventually changed the trajectory of their lives and their marriage. Therefore, as of the release of “Raising Attabury,” I am also releasing both “Spiritual Wholeness” (which Eric reads) and “The 9-12 Project” (which Dani reads). These contain the non-fiction version of how God gave me my life back and set me on a journey to being a light for others in this vast darkness of the world we find ourselves in. If you are interested in reading either of the other two books for yourself, please feel free.
One person healed will always turn and help others. It truly is the Ripple Effect of Hope, and it can change the world!
That is my belief.
That is my goal.
That is my mission.
Thank you for reading, and God bless you!
Peace,
Staci Stallings
A Sneak Peek at an All-New Staci Stallings’ Romance
Dance with Me
Prologue
“Kaci!”
In the ensuing heartbeat, a crash of unfathomably deep silence enveloped her, yanking her down into its depths, the darkness of its hungry fingers slithering over her consciousness as unreality swirled, pulling her down, down, down into it and away from reality...
“Someone call 911!”
“Oh, no…”
“Kaci. Kaci, just lay still. Don’t move, okay? Don’t move. Someone call 911! Someone call 911!”
Looking up, focusing. She sank further, her breath slowing on the swaying of the world around her. It was impossible to stay in the reality that had suddenly plummeted her into the vastness of the unreal. Her eyes fell closed and then jolted open as agony ripped through her from every direction in one snap. Panicked terror jerked the breath from her lungs and sent it gasping from her as her mind began a desperate fight to understand. “My… Mike…? My leg… Mike?” Tears ripped through the gasps as she reached for it. “Mike? What happened? What happened to my leg? What happened?”
“I’m right here, Kaci. I’m right here.” His face, swimming and unsettled, hovered somewhere in the air above her. “I’m right here. Just lay still. We’re getting help.”
“Mike?” The panic twisted and twined in and out of the excruciating pain. “Mike, help me! Help me please. It’s my leg! Help me!”
“You’re okay, Kaci. You’re okay. Just stay with me. They’ll be here. I promise you. They’ll be here…”
The lights above them began a slow tilt around her as the hardwood of the stage warped the other direction. Only in the deepest recesses of her mind did she remember the others, and writhing to get away from the anguish, she saw them, in a ring of light white and pink gauze, arms folded, they stared down at her, unmoving. Wordlessly watching her descent into hell.
“I can’t move it,” she screamed. “I can’t…”
“Don’t move. Just lay still,” he said, his own panic searing through the words.
“What happened?” another voice asked. One she should recognize, and now it was right there with them.
“She came down on it wrong,” Micah said by way of explanation. “I don’t know. It looks really bad. Are they coming? Did you tell them?”
“They’re coming.”
“I can’t… I can’t feel my leg!” Frantic had replaced the panic, and Kaci pitched her body, fighting to comprehend why she couldn’t move. “I’m going to die!”
“No, Kaci.” Micah’s gaze came down to hers, solid but agitated, as his eyes bore into hers even as his hands held her shoulders down. “Just breathe. Calm down and breathe for me.”
“I can’t…”
“Listen to me, you have to. Breathe. Okay? Don’t try to move.” Fear poured from him onto her as he nodded. “Yeah. Like that. Just like that. Breathe. Just keep breathing.”
The short gasps made her lightheaded which tipped and tilted her back down into the pain and terror. “Mike, please. Please, Mike, don’t leave me… Please.”
“I won’t, Kaci. I won’t leave you. I promise.”
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The Grace Series
Mirror Mirror {Kindle Unlimited} Sage Wentworth has the life others can only dream of living. But secrets of the past have a way of making themselves not stay secrets. Begin the incredible journey of “The Grace Series” with Mirror Mirror.
When I’m Weak {Kindle Unlimited} Jaycee Lawrence has never done any job halfway. Now working with America’s top television remodeler, she does her job and the jobs of everyone else as well. Not wanting to let Derek West down while guarding her heart from his heart-throb ways, she will stop at nothing to make sure the job gets done right. But when Derek realizes how indispensable she has become to him, will he be able to keep himself from falling in love with the woman he thought was just his assistant?
A Love Like This {Kindle Unlimited} Called on by his boss to fix a house that is practically falling down around the owner, Caleb James is just the man for the job. Never one to give up on a project just because it’s difficult, he soon finds the “project” he’s working on is not the house at all but the young widow and mother who is one frayed emotion away from giving up completely. Can Caleb’s patient renovation of her spirit bring her back from the brink?
A Moment Like This (Kindle Unlimited) It’s a whirlwind trip to the altar for Caleb and Rachel as all the Ridgemount friends pitch in to make sure their day is the most special one ever.
Raising Attabury (Kindle Unlimited) Dani Richardson may have finally met her match in the rickety, old house called Attabury. Can Caleb and the gang bring this house and this family back to life again, or are some things too far gone to be saved?
The Courage Series
To Protect & Serve {FREE on Kindle} {Audiobook} She’s a control freak. He’s a firefighter with a death wish. Wa
tch the sparks fly when these two get together.
White Knight {Kindle Unlimited} {Audiobook} The one he couldn’t save was the love of her life. How can he ever make that terrible failure right again?
For Real {Kindle Unlimited} {Audiobook} She’s got issues. He’s got secrets. Can they ever learn to be “for real”?
The Friendship Series
Eternity {Kindle Unlimited} Aaron never noticed Harmony until now. Now, it might be too late.
The Easy Way Out {Kindle Unlimited} Drew thought he knew what love was, maybe he was wrong.
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The Harmony Series
Cowboy One night Ashton Raines walked away from everything.
Lucky {Kindle Unlimited} One man. One woman. One night that changes everything.
The Faith Series
A Work In Progress {FREE on Kindle} Rebecca hated “the beautiful people” until she fell for one. Now what?
A Little Piece of Heaven {Kindle Unlimited} Emily loves God. Jeremy doesn’t believe in Him. How will this ever work?
A Light in the Darkness {Kindle Unlimited} One night, he becomes her angel in the darkness.
The Dreams Series
Dreams by Starlight {Kindle Unlimited} Sometimes where you are is not where you are meant to be.
Reunion {Kindle Unlimited} 10 years later. Everything has changed. Or has it?
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Single Titles
Deep in the Heart {Kindle Unlimited} {Audiobook} He’s worth billions. She’s penniless. What do they have in common? Everything.
More Than This {Kindle Unlimited} He was only looking for a cup of coffee and a quiet place to write. She helped him find himself.
And The Greatest of These is Love {Kindle Unlimited} Andrew Clark is at the top of his game when a one-off story changes his life forever.
Coming Undone {Kindle Unlimited} {Audiobook} Ben was footloose and fancy-free until he got the call that changed his everything.
The Long Way Home {Kindle Unlimited} Jaxton is about to learn what is really important in life, and it’s not what he thought.
If You Believed in Love He’s given up on love, but love won’t give up on him.
The Price of Silence {Kindle Unlimited} Who can you trust when the unseen eyes are watching your every move?
Princess She hated basketball—and him. Could Heather have been wrong about everything?
Whisper If You Have To She’s got secrets. So does he. Can they learn to be honest together?
Living in the Light Bible Studies
Theirs is the Kingdom Who is your Source? Why does it matter? Meditations on the first Beatitude.
The Two Trees In the Garden of Eden there were two trees, and those trees still present a choice for us today.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit Seven gifts that can change your life.
Non-fiction
Something’s Not Right One family’s journey through dyslexia.
Reflections on Life 52 real life stories about struggles and victories in this life.
Reflections on Life II 83 new real life stories that challenge us all to reach for the life God truly wants for us.
Reflections on Life III Trials and pain… through it all God is there. Real life stories from the “territory.”
True Power & Real Peace How do you find True Power & Real Peace?
The 9-12 Project A journey from Healing to Hope
Spiritual Wholeness Breaking Free to the Life You Want
In Print
(click the links to read more about the books)
Eternity
Cowboy
Lucky
Deep in the Heart
Dreams by Starlight
Reunion
Reflections On Life I
Reflections On Life II
Coming Undone
To Protect & Serve
White Knight
For Real
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About the Author
A USA Today Best Selling Author and stay-at-home mom, Staci Stallings has a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side. Staci has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Although she lives in Amarillo, Texas and her main career right now is her family, Staci touches the lives of people across the globe with her various Internet and writing endeavors.
You can catch up or keep up with all of Staci’s work at:
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