Keeping faith through the nightmare

Sampson County native Teresa Hovatter released her debut memoir in May, and it’s all about a four-year nightmare she faced that shook her life up completely.

The book, titled “Grace Beyond the Gates,” follows Hovatter’s life after her son was arrested on Father’s Day and thrown in prison. The summary for the memoir goes as follows:

“A single mother of three saw her childhood dreams shattered as she faced a relentless nightmare when her son was arrested on Father’s Day. Despite the overwhelming circumstances, her faith became her anchor. With courage, she fought a dual battle – against the legal system and spiritual warfare. It was the darkest, most challenging days of her life. Fear became her constant companion as her faith was put to a tremendous test. During the darkness, signs from God illuminated her path, serving as beacons of hope. She never let go of her faith but also realized how little faith she actually had. As the days turned into years, her faith deepened, and she discovered a newfound purpose. Guided by a divine calling, she transformed her experience into a mission of support, advocacy, and encouragement for others facing similar trials. With unwavering determination, she emerged from despair, not only with her faith stronger but also with a newfound mission from above.”

In a recent telephone interview, Hovatter admitted that she knew from the first day of her nightmare beginning that she would write this story.

“I knew from day one of the beginning of that four years that one day I would write this story. Uh, but you know, I had to see how the story folded out, but I knew in my mind that, that I was going to tell the story one day,” she said.

But it still took a year before she could put pen to paper to write it all out.

“Once he got home, it took about a year before I could really get my head straight in order to put it all together,” she stressed.

She then said it took another year for her to finish writing the story, a difficult task at best.

“It was very, very difficult for me to write,” she said quietly. “There would be times I would be writing and I would get very upset and emotional. I would start to have anxiety attacks reliving the whole entire four years of what we went through.”

But even with the difficulties, she said it almost like the lifting of a burden to write everything.

“It was a relief for me, and it was also very therapeutic. It also reminded me of what God had done in my life during that time and how I had come out of this situation in a much better person,” she said.

Hovatter stressed that she felt she needed to write this book because it was a topic that no one talked about, not even her. By writing a memoir, she noted, she was able to show people that there is hope and you can get through it when facing a situation such as hers.

“There were no support groups for this sort of thing because so many people who go through this type of thing, or through drug addiction, or they have trouble with their kids, they’re embarrassed. They don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want anybody to know about it,” Hovatter attested. “What I felt God telling me to do was to let people know that there’s hope and His promises that he will get you through it.”

But mostly, she wanted her story to give the strength and courage to stand and fight to the other parents who might be facing similar things.

“My hope and prayer from this book is that my standing up with the courage to share as a parent, that other parents out there can come to know that they can get through it,” she said.

And the response has been overwhelming, Hovatter said, noting that people have been reaching out to her about this book, and they’ve been sharing what they’ve had to go through, and that reading this book gave them the courage to do that.

“Since the book has hit the market, I have been overwhelmed with the response,” she exclaimed. “People stopping me in stores, people calling me, people reaching out to say ‘hey, I’m sorry you went through this, but here’s what happened to me.’ And I can relate, and I did the same thing, I never had anybody to share it with. I never talked to my friends, or some people never even talked to their families about [their situations].”

And as much as this book is about what Hovatter went through, she said the book also talks about the justice system.

“One of the biggest things I learned, because I had never been through anything like this, is the average person out here in the world has no clue what goes on in our justice system,” she said … as far as prison systems, the treatment of people, things that happen, the expenses you incur. And I exposed a lot of that in the story because I think it’s very important. You know people are so judgmental about prison, about people in prison. They’re so judgmental but what you learn when you actually get thrown into that situation is not everybody in there is bad people.”

According to the press release about the book, “Grace Beyond the Gate” was released May 25. It is available in hardback, paperback, and Kindle ebook on Amazon and other bookstores.