"If Tomorrow Comes." by Sidney Sheldon was the book I came across almost a year ago. I was coming out of a bad relationship, jobless with two kids and no support system. It was the story of a young woman, Tracy Whitney who had all the odds in the world stacked against her.

Her mother was scammed and then committed suicide, Tracy was framed for a robbery and sent to jail. She was abandoned by her fiance and lost her baby. I connected well with her while reading the book. Though I didn't lose a child or experience half of what happened to her, I could relate exactly to the way she felt. I was lonely, I felt abandoned by everyone and I had to pick up the scraps and start over again. I lost so much, and I know firsthand the feeling of loss.

One other part of the book I can strongly relate to is that you can never really count on anyone. It is the people closest to you that ditch you at your worst hour. Tracy thought her fiance was going to come through for her, but she ended up getting disappointed. I know how it must have felt, I didn't have anyone, and the people I thought I had, left me to it.

At times, you find help where you least expect it, so don't be so quick to cancel humanity. People eventually came through for Tracy, in the last place she expected, prison. People who had no ties to me also came through for me and I was speechless. At the end of the day, everyone needs a little help along the way, no one is an island. Despite the disappointing human nature, you should never write anyone off. Don't forget to render help to others too while you are at it.

I didn't know what I was going to do like Tracy didn't too after leaving prison, but somehow, I handled it. She handled her issues too, in a different way and came out okay in the end.

It's been over a year since my terrible experience, and I can proudly say, I did it. I have grown from that lonely, sad, jobless, depressed mother to the opposite of everything I mentioned. I didn't think I could do it, matter of fact, I don't know how I did. I initially thought I was going to cave under pressure, but mercy and grace said no, which leads me to my favorite quote in the book,

Quote
"God will never throw anything at you that you can't handle. Just take it one step at a time."