Seventeen years ago I grew extremely ill with weakness, dizziness and the inability to eat. Each time something hit my stomach I started shaking and got horrible indigestion. The physician told me, “We can’t diagnose what you have, so we can’t treat it.” I froze right there in his office. A nurse finally helped me collect myself and check out. I drove home in a trance, stopped at the door to the house, told my husband I didn’t have any of the diseases the doctor had tested me for and trod upstairs to the bedroom. I plopped down in a rocking chair and sat in shock.

I didn’t pray. I didn’t ask God for His help or what I should do. Looking back, I believe I was too ill and too stunned to think. But God intervened. Over and over I kept thinking I should see Dr. Lee. He was a chiropractor a friend of mine had seen ten years earlier. I wanted to swat the busyness buzzing in my brain like a mosquito. Why would I need a chiropractor? But the thought persisted. Finally, I phoned my friend, found out Dr. Lee’s first name and phone number and learned that he was now also a holistic doctor. I contacted him, and he started treating me immediately for a toxic substance, which turned out to be Chronic Lyme disease.

Why Not Me?

I’ve often wondered why me? I’ve also heard if one asks why me, one has to ask why not me? We live in an imperfect world, so why would I be any less likely to contract Chronic Lyme disease than anyone else? I’ve been a Christian who prayed and trusted God to direct me for as long as I can remember. I believed God had a purpose for my life. I didn’t understand how Chronic Lyme disease fit into it, or why there wasn’t a better way to accomplish it.

That’s where faith comes in. Sometimes when we’re in what society perceives an impossible situation, or in my case, at the end of the road, it isn’t as easy to have faith as it is to profess it. It helps me to remember how a power so much stronger than me intervened in my situation. When I didn’t even have the presence of mind to pray, God stepped in and sent me exactly where I needed to go for help. In spite of Chronic Lyme disease, I enjoy an active life. Sometimes I have to step back and remind myself. We may bump into tragic circumstances in our imperfect world, but God has the power to lift us above them.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10

As time went by and people learned of my condition, I received emails and phone calls asking about my treatment. That led to Barely Above Water. The symptoms and therapies in the book are real. They’re the ones I had at the time, but I wanted a fun-to-read book, so I added a fictitious romance and a rag-tag kids’ summer league swim team.

Barely Above Water

An illness comes out of nowhere and strikes Suzie Morris. Her boyfriend dumps her. She has no living family, and her physician can’t diagnose the malady.

Suzie relies on her Christian faith as she faces the uncertainty of the disease, and turns to a renowned alternative doctor in Destin, Florida. She takes a job coaching a county-sponsored summer swim team. She’s determined to turn the fun, sometimes comical, rag-tag bunch into winners.

Her handsome boss renews her belief in love, but learns of her mysterious affliction and abruptly cuts romantic ties. Later he has regrets, but can he overcome his fear of losing a loved one and regain Suzie’s trust?

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About Gail

Award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, Mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. A 2013 Grace Awards finalist, she’s a Reader’s Favorite 2017 Book Award winner and a TopShelf 2020 Book Awards Finalist. She’s published six books, poems, short stories and several hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums. She enjoys connecting with readers. Sign up for her newsletter at https://www.gailpallotta.com/mainphp.html and visit her website at gailpallotta.com