
Leaving Cloud 9
The True Story of a Life Resurrected from the Ashes of Poverty, Trauma, and Mental Illness
- 272 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Leaving Cloud 9
The True Story of a Life Resurrected from the Ashes of Poverty, Trauma, and Mental Illness
About this book
A powerful, heartbreaking, and redemptive account of a boy who endured a childhood of poverty and abuse in an American Southwest trailer park named Cloud 9.
Abandoned by his father at age two, Rick Sylvester lived with an abusive mother whose struggles as a member of the working poor led her to drugs, alcohol, theft, and prostitution--and eventually attempted suicide. Rick battled depression, anxiety, and PTSD as the chaos, neglect, and unpredictability of his childhood seemed to doom him to follow in his mother's footsteps.
Well into adulthood, Rick stumbled through unemployment and divorce, using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain until he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Miraculously, though, he overcame the odds and today is a happy husband and father. How did this happen? Rick's answer is this: "It was the Lord."
A message of hope to those who are drowning from an undeserved childhood, Leaving Cloud 9 speaks to millions who grew up poor, feeling ignored and hopeless, and who need the healing power of God. This indelibly American story conveys the steadfast love of Jesus and his power to deliver us from the most devastating of pasts.
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Information
Table of contents
- Contents
- Foreword
- Prologue: Present Day
- Chapter 1: In the Beginning
- Chapter 2: From Where She Came
- Chapter 3: The Father He Never Knew
- Chapter 4: Pictures
- Chapter 5: Starving for Relationship
- Chapter 6: Steven
- Chapter 7: Aurora, Colorado
- Chapter 8: Kinship Care
- Chapter 9: Battle Buddies
- Chapter 10: Privileged?
- Chapter 11: Soldier Dreams
- Chapter 12: The Villain
- Chapter 13: When She Was Alone
- Chapter 14: Tony Returns
- Chapter 15: James
- Chapter 16: Man Boobs
- Chapter 17: Age Twelve
- Chapter 18: The Molding of a Man
- Chapter 19: Lonely
- Chapter 20: In the Army Now
- Chapter 21: Giving Up on God
- Chapter 22: College
- Chapter 23: Shredded
- Chapter 24: Flight School
- Chapter 25: Sabrina
- Chapter 26: PTSD
- Chapter 27: A Marriage Unravels
- Chapter 28: Anxiety Attack
- Chapter 29: The Defining Diagnosis
- Chapter 30: Seattle to DC
- Chapter 31: Almost There
- Chapter 32: A Rough Start
- Chapter 33: Living Life
- Chapter 34: They Meet Again
- Chapter 35: Meeting Sylvia
- Chapter 36: Looking at Life Ahead
- Chapter 37: Jacob James Sylvester
- Chapter 38: Newborn Life
- Chapter 39: The Family He Never Knew
- Chapter 40: How He Got Here
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- About the Author