Hanging On by the Scratch Marks My Nails Left Behind (Raw Faith)
A note from the Author, Elizabeth Chalker
You - one person - an individual, can literally change this whole world with love. By focusing on love, making a choice to love, feeding all that is positive, good, and of the light with exuberance and abundance instead of feeding the negative and evil things of the darkness. You can literally change the world and yourself. One relationship - one interaction - one decision at a time.
If you are experiencing the dark night of the soul in affliction year after year, it will present you, as it has me, with opportunities not found in most other life circumstances.
This is a life story of being in the fire, where I currently remain, where my heart for the Lord has become increasingly insatiable. A deepened intimacy has developed and continues to grow even through this very moment, and will continue beyond. As you read, this is my hope and prayer for you as well.
Excerpt of Foreword, Dr. Corey Cameron: "I don’t know if there is really a way for anyone to understand the depths of pain and suffering from which this work of Elizabeth’s springs. The reality of her minute-to-minute existence is far too unbelievable to wrap the mind around. Most of the writing was done in a very dark, cold room in complete silence. Much was done with the computer on Elizabeth’s lap, with her typing with her eyes closed, as the light even from the computer screen was too much, too painful. All of it was done with a continual headache/migraine, as those only change in level of severity. She worked in small increments in between excruciating, unbearable physical pain and exhaustion, and moments of reprieve where the physical pain/symptoms and migraines were “bearable enough.”...To me, she is the epitome of what God wants for all of us. To love where there is no evidence, give when there’s nothing left and believe where there is nothing left to hold onto except “the scratch marks our nails left behind.”_
“It's a bold book, raw, and similar to open heart surgery for the soul.”
—Parker J. Cole,
Host, Write Now Radio Show
5 Star Reviews
Hanging On by the Scratch Marks My Nails Left Behind (Raw Faith)
CYRUS WEBB: "Elizabeth Chalker's inspiring book shows that with Faith anything is possible.
Dealing with any illness or difficult situation can either bring out the worst in us or the best in us. A great deal of it has to do with our attitude.
In her book HANGING ON BY THE SCRATCH MARKS MY NAILS LEFT BEHIND (Raw Faith) is not an easy road to take. Not because of the size of the book, but because of where you find yourself going.
You enter the world of Elizabeth L. Chalker, an individual who was full of life and promise and due to illness and symptoms that can destroy a person she has been able to not only find a reason to live, but allowed her path to show others how they can endure in spite of the challenges that they face.
Elizabeth's life is an example that when you feel like you can't go on realize that with faith you can deal with anything---and be a source of inspiration to others along the way.
Definitely a book that shows what faith can do for an individual and how we can be a source of strength to others, HANGING ON BY THE SCRATCH MARKS goes to the heart of what it means to believe." ~ Cyrus Webb "Conversations Book Club" TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE VOICE.
___________________________________
YVONNE WRIGHT: "(Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) I read this book with a box of tissues beside me. The tears were not for Elizabeth who has written her story in real time. They were for me, as my sorry superficial life paled in the light of her life that revealed what living for the glory of God really means. How does one suffering from Lyme Disease causing, a slow death, causing non-stop pain and agony get the discipline, the determination and the courage to focus, not on the devastation taking place in her body, but brings that body under subjection and pens a stirring story about the greatest love of her life?
I have not stopped asking myself that question since I read this amazing book. It's not like any other book you will read. Indeed, Elizabeth is not the first person to go through excruciating pain and suffering. In most cases the stories end. This story does not end. Elizabeth, though she prays, no pleads with her Lord for healing and deliverance, has not been healed, nor been delivered, but her faith still holds on to the Christ of Calvary.
This is a remarkable book by a remarkable writer and deserves to be read by those who suffer as she does from chronic illness, but also by those whose lives are a romp in the park by comparison, if only to gain perspective. It is well written. I believe it should find its way to the ranks of best sellers. It would make an excellent documentary of courage, hope and inspiration."
____________________________________________
JORJA DAVIS: "Elizabeth Chalker suffers from late stage lyme disease, probably fatal, offering nothing but a slow, agonizing death. Lyme disease is complicated and compounded by other serious health issues that have left her bedridden and mostly alone. In this roaring furnace where she experiences daily frustration, unbearable pain, and, like Job, unjustifiable suffering, she has found the way to walk with unbound faith and trust in God.
In her book, I was at first witness, but soon became her companion, experiencing through my own chronic pain such wonder at her passionate love and unquenchable thirst for God. I have lived eighteen years with chronic pain. At times, her cries to God for deliverance were so intense I had to stop reading.
The book had somehow become not only Chalker’s story, but mine, as well. I had to stand in awe like King Nebuchadnezzar, “It is my privilege to report to you the gracious miracles that the High God has done for me. His miracles are staggering, his wonders are surprising, His kingdom lasts and lasts, his sovereign rule goes on forever.” *
If you are hurting, crying out in anger or fear, or if you know someone who seems to be weighed down with their hurts and their needs, Hanging on by the Scratch Marks My Nails Left Behind has a place on your shelf beside C. S. Lewis’s The Problem of Pain and Philip Yancey’s Where Is God When It Hurts? It is a terrible, dark place that can only be lit by God's grace in all the ways it comes."
___________________________________
ALAN S: "Everyone who loves, who feels, who dreams needs to read this book. Although I have a child who has numerous neurological difficulties and multiple medical struggles, my eyes were opened by Elizabeth as to perspective, toughness, kindness, and what matters most.
I somehow wish I could meet her and tell her that her words are burned into my soul. As a principal of a High School I am going to be sure to include this book into our curriculum.
As emotional as it is to read I am better for reading it."
___________________________________
PASTOR CHARLES CARRIN: "Elizabeth Chalker knows the reality of pain and the power of God. She has experienced both. As a writer, Elizabeth has profound educational credentials. As a young woman battling the disappointment of broken health, a cancelled engagement, and collapsed career, her book challenges us with truths we desperately need to hear. Without that challenge our understanding the drama of life will remain incomplete.
I am now in my 60th year of ordained ministry and can say without hesitation that Elizabeth Chalker is one of the top-ten people I most admire. Her courage, heroism, and freedom of criticism, is an example I wish the whole world could see. Hopefully, this book will help achieve that. Elizabeth has walked "through the valley of the shadow of death" and most of the time she has walked it alone. But, she kept walking and continues walking even to this day. In an especially dark part of the journey a new Friend stepped out of the shadows and said, "Let Me help you carry that cross." The two of them, journeying together, have not yet reached the end of the valley.
The end of the suffering in this life is not in sight. In the meantime, this special young woman continues to be part of the "light that shines in darkness". Read her book. You will see what I mean"
— Dr. Charles Carrin