Bill J Blackburn

Shalita's Prayers Bill J Blackburn

Shalita's Prayers is a story about a remarkable woman who was raised in a loving Christian home in Northern India. A precocious little girl, Shalita begins journaling, which becomes a lifelong passion.

A few years after a bitter divorce, she meets a new love and they marry and begin raising two boys (hers and theirs). As a popular professor at the local university Shalita feels the stresses of being the quintessential modern day mom and wife. Her world is rocked when she is diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer at 45. Shalita asks her no-nonsense oncologist if she will see her sons, ages 7 and 17, graduate from high school. His cool response: "you'll see the older one graduate." Before fully absorbing the crushing news, Shalita is wheeled into surgery, followed by aggressive treatments of chemotherapy. Struggling to understand why God would allow such a terrible disease to invade her world, she eventually realizes' why not me? Much of Shalita's response is to do what she has always done in her life' throw herself completely at the feet of God, seeking healing and guidance while praising Him for each moment of life.

Shalita's cancer returns and when she is gone her husband Bill and their sons are left to navigate a difficult path without her. Littered with painful memories and setbacks, Bill is challenged to find calm through this seemingly unrelenting storm.

Shalita's Prayers is filled with dozens of her actual journal entries, which are mostly prayers, and provides beautiful, intimate glimpses into her remarkable faith and longings for God. Told with rare candor, Shalita's Prayers is a story of promise, human frailty and uncompromising faith. Anyone interested in culture, faith during crises and how to work through loss is likely to find this book a compelling read.