Chosen ... To Never Walk Alone 1930-2001, 2001-2012, by Susan Shanks, PhD, Professor Emerita of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies at California State University, Fresno, is an inspiring autobiography of a disabled, single Christian woman's walk with God as He molded her for special ministries. The author describes how she coped in a dysfunctional family and continues with the story of how God led her during her struggle with polio and the years she prepared to teach in an elementary school classroom (BEd), to work as a speech therapist in a rehabilitation clinic (MA), and to teach speech-language pathology at a university (PhD).
Susan also focuses her work on the ministries she began after retirement and a period of sadness following the long illness and death of her loving, lifelong caregiver-her mother. Finally, the reader is told how the author is guided in her attempts to maintain an independent lifestyle, even through illness. The themes of faith, hope, and trust sing through this book, which relates a tale of an abundant life overflowing with small miracles.