Put on a Smiling Face

I sometimes cry when I’m happy, and I often smile when I’m sad. It is not my intention to lie about my feelings. Tears and smiles are simply a couple of the ways in which I handle the challenges of life from time to time. We all have ways in which we cope with the world around us, but not all methods may be appropriate at a given time.

When I smile through my sadness, it helps me to excercise self-control rather than let the situation control me. It is not very difficult to stifle self-reactionary reponses with a smile when faced with a situation that would normally elicit negative emotions.

When we smile in the face of distress, it begins to release something inside of us which immediately begins to work on creating equilibrium between the unobservable segments of our lives and the observable behaviors. This probably won’t work for those who only use their smiles to hide what they are really feeling. There is a huge difference between smiling through one’s pain and hiding the truth of one’s pain from others.

I’ve known a few people who are great at pretending. They smile with the intention of deceiving others. They don’t just temporarily stifle their reactions when appropriate, but they present a facade – a faux image of who they really are.

It’s okay to be yourself. It is okay to sometimes cry tears of joy, or smile your way through the sadness. The important thing is to get through it, and you can have some fun knowing that if there are detractors at work against you, smiling at their tricks will at least annoy them while you keep your cool. Pretty soon, you’ll stifle them with just a smile.

Smiles are great in another way. They are highly contagious. Look at someone and smile, no matter how you are feeling inside, and you are almost guaranteed to get a smile in return. So, go ahead and smile when you’re happy, but especially smile when you are not.

 

Are You Dating or Marrying an Ass?

In our modern world, we are taught that men are like frogs or toads and ladies are destined to kiss many frogs in order to find their prince. However, frogs and toads are not the only creatures with which we so often end up consorting. A potential partner can have the nature of any beast even if he or she appears to be the most beautiful or the most handsome girl or guy. It is inevitable that we are going to encounter many beasts before we arrive at our “at last!” moment. The question is, how do we distinguish the beasts from the best that God has for us? It really is not difficult if you exercise patience, intelligence, and discernment.

After God created Adam, for the first time, He found something evil about His creation. The man did not have a mate. God said that loneliness was not good. It was the evil that had popped up to create a sad dissonance which disrupted the tranquility of the garden. Immediately, God set about repairing the damage. He started off by bringing the other creatures He had made to the man to see if the man would choose a companion from among them. This was to be a test of the man’s intelligence, wisdom, and discernment.

One by one God brought the animals to Adam, and the parade to find a companion for the man turned into a naming party of those animals instead. So, God stood back and was entertained by the wisdom and intelligence displayed by the man.

After an exhaustive search for an equal for man among the existing creatures of creation, God set to work constructing a fitting companion for Adam. He put Adam in a deep sleep and took out a part of him which He used to construct the woman. Upon completion, he brought the female to Adam, and he immediately recognized her for who she was and launched into a prophetic declaration.

“This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called Woman for from man was she taken” (Genesis 2:23).

What did he mean by, “This one at last”? This was because the pageant of animals God brought to him had been part of the quest to find him a companion. So, the mare, the heifer, the donkey, the pig, the snake, and so on – none of them made the cut, but when He saw the companion that Hashem had custom built for him, he was moved to declarations of joy and prophecy.

He preached that day declaring the Good News. This was the Gospel according to Adam. He declared that this one is “bone of my bone” showing that she had strength, power, and authority that was similar to his. She was his equal and his counterpart. It wasn’t “I’m the big bone and she is the little bone.” She was the right fit that would restore him to wholeness.

He also called her “flesh of my flesh” which is the actual declaration of Good News. The word flesh in Hebrew is Basar. From it we get the word Besorah which means Gospel or Good News. Basar also is a euphemism for the male genitals which is the instrument of Good News in the marriage for it is the ‘hook’ that joins the man and woman together as “one flesh”

“Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.” Once again, they become one flesh through the “good news” action of the male organ.

So Adam didn’t choose the mare, the heifer, the sow, or the jenny. He didn’t choose the bitch or any other four-legged creature. He didn’t choose any of the two-legged ones or the ones with no legs, but the moment he saw the new creature God had made, he recognized her instantly.

What can we learn from this regarding the mate that God has for us? The first thing is that you will never find that person if you are out there kissing amphibians, being seduced by reptiles, and fraternizing with asses and so on.

If a woman is promiscuous, we call her an alley cat. If a man is a womanizer, we call him a dog. If a person is a two-faced deceiver, we call him or her a snake. Finally, if someone lacks charm and manners, we call them a frog or a toad. We fool ourselves into believing that underneath that slimy or uncouth exterior might just be a prince and a kiss from the “princess” will break the evil spell. That is just plain stupid.

Here is a story of an prince who was really an ass in disguise. His name was Shechem. His name literally meant that he was a beast of burden even though he had the appearance of a man. His father’s name was Hamor which literally meant jackass aka a male donkey. That should tell us something, shouldn’t it?

Now, these people lived in a city which they named after the donkey prince, so for fun, we will call it Donkey City. One day, a group of people called Hebrews came and camped close to the Donkey City. Among these new folks was a pretty adolescent girl named Dinah. She became very curious about the goings on in Donkey City and decided to sneak over there one day when all the animals in Donkey City were having one of their fertility donkey festivals.

Dinah wanted to meet other girls in Donkey City, but she ran into the donkey prince himself. He was immediately attracted to her, and that horny donkey dragged her to his house and raped the young girl. After he was finished having his way with her, he realized that she was not like all the donkey girls in his donkey town. She was unlike anyone he had ever known and he wanted to keep her. He would not let her leave his house, but he went to his man-jack father to ask for his help in securing Dinah as his wife.

Together, donkey prince and his daddy the donkey king went to visit Dinah’s family to ask for her hand. He wanted her so badly that he was willing to pay any bride price they asked of him. He did have a touch of nobility in him – he only wanted the girl; however, his father was busy mentally claiming Dinah’s people’s possessions for himself and his people.

Dinah’s brothers pretended to go along with the arrangements requiring that all the donkeys in Donkey City go through the very painful ritual of cropping off the foreskin of their donkey organs so that they would become like the Hebrews. The donkey prince and his father went on a campaign and convinced all the other jackasses how beneficial it would be for them to agree to undergo the ritual.

All the jacks finally went through the ritual in one day, and on the third day when they were incapacitated by the pain, two of Dinah’s brothers came and killed them all. They took Dinah from the donkey prince’s house. They took female captives, and they took livestock and other stuff and burned the city.

And so ends the tale of the donkey prince.

Why is this story important? It is important because it teaches us about the nature of man and what to avoid. You can recognize an ass easily enough. It is not his braying, his powerful shoulders, strong back, and strong hind legs which can kick the tar out of you that truly reveals his nature. The thing that reveals the ass more than anything else is his randy nature. He may not be a bad person in terms of how we define badness, but if he cannot control his drives he is an ass and therefore is not of the same kind as a female who is following God.

An ass will always try to get a God-fearing woman to break faith with her God and have sexual relations with him before marriage. Sometimes, the ass isn’t a man but a woman. She will act the seducer which is more in keeping with being a snake, but it doesn’t matter which base creature a person emulates. An animal and a human are not of the same kind.

So, are you hanging out with an ass? Are you getting ready to join your life with someone who is constantly trying to get you to break the commandments of God in order to satisfy his or her sexual desires? Have you already given in to having sex outside of marriage? Those, my friend, are ass-like behaviors, and trouble usually plagues the relationships that start out under donkey influence.

We all know the term “what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” But God will never join one of his daughters or one of his sons to a degenerate brute beast. He made someone just right for Adam. He has the right person for each of us, but we have to recognize if we are of the same kind as the one who is trying to mate with us.

There is a very easy way to discern if the person with whom we are becoming involved is really a beast in disguise rather than the “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” If he or she is really a beast in disguise, you will always be put under pressure to sin. The couple might even be planning their wedding and choose to enter into a pre-marital sexual relationship not realizing that they have unleashed a beast.

On the other hand, a “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” mate is one who will inspire prophecy in us. We will recognize the essential parts of ourselves in that person. We will recognize that we are related in the spiritual realm through the same Holy Spirit at work in both of us. If we do not recognize Jesus in our prospective mates, if we do not detect the presence of the Holy Spirit in that life, how then can we even believe that God is responsible for joining two such disparate flesh together as one? Is God in the business of joining the living and the dead together? Does He condone any fellowship between light and darkness?

God allows our life experiences to form areas of need in our lives that only the right partner can fill.

Three years after his mother’s death, Isaac was still mourning her deeply. His father’s chief steward brought Rebecca to him and the moment he accepted her and made her his wife, his wounded heart healed. Not just any woman could have done that. It took a very special woman made just for him. She was to him all the woman he ever needed, and he was the only one of the three patriarchs who never got involved with another woman. Even when it took twenty years for his wife to conceive, he never looked at another woman. Instead, he interceded on his wife’s behalf for God to give them a child. God gave them twins, and after that very rough pregnancy, I am sure she was happy with just the two boys.

In this world, we have the freedom to choose whoever we desire as mates but God does not nor can He sanction, endorse, or bless every union. I submit that we must look more closely at the term “what God has joined together” in order to come into a fuller understanding so as not to place cruel and unnecessary bonds on one another. I am drawing from the fact that when God created man, he made them male and female, yet Adam was alone meaning that he was a single being. Therefore, God took from him that which was needed to bring about the female as a separate being. Originally, however, they were both clothed in one body as one unit. After they became two, the only way they could return to that state of oneness was through sexual intercourse where they became one flesh.

I think when each individual realizes the great implications involved in choosing a mate he or she will be a great deal more careful. Bear in mind how careful Abraham was in seeking a wife for his son. That son was just as careful in directing his son as to where to go to find a fitting wife.  God did not let them down but directed their steps all the way to the covenant brides He had set aside for them. That same God will also direct your steps to the one who is truly right for you. Be done with the barnyard and the zoo animals. Wait on the Lord, and He will not disappoint you.

Check out my youtube channel Jewmaican Messianic for great teaching on covenants, relationships, divorce & remarriage and many more topics.

Thanks!

 

Healing the Brokenhearted

As Valentine’s Day approaches and couples are busy purchasing cards and other romantic gifts for one another, there are those who will not be participating in these celebrations for one reason or another. Some people simply do not celebrate this pagan festival which honors Eros or Cupid, the Greco-Roman deity of love. On the other hand, there are those who will not celebrate love on any day simply because they are suffering from the wounds of loneliness and rejection. Some of these people have been in very bad relationships and have been through the fire of divorce, and now they don’t know if they are allowed to find and experience happiness with another partner.

Well, for those who are dwelling in this no-man’s land, I have Good News! I am sent to minister comfort and healing to the brokenhearted ones who have experienced divorce. Whether you have remained single since your divorce or you have remarried, this is your season of release. God loves you so much and wants you to walk in wholeness, free from condemnation, judgment, and loneliness.

The Spirit of God spoke to my heart and instructed me to minister to the divorced person. Too many of His children who have divorced and remarried are living under constant guilt and condemnation. They are walking with wounds, limping along in their second and third marriages not realizing that much of their fruitlessness and ill-health stem from the unresolved guilt from their remarriage following a divorce.

God desires to use all His children to bring about good in the earth, but it is impossible for Him to use us if we are carrying around these wounds that refuse to heal. One main reason why many times the wounds from divorce do not heal is that the divorced person may be afraid that remarriage is off limits to them. Even those who have remarried may be carrying around a secret guilt that their second marriage may not be lawful in God’s eyes and that they and their new spouse might be living in sin.

There is often no good support system within the religious community to which the divorced person belongs that will help in the healing process. There are even religious communities that discourage divorce even when it is the best all around solution.

Religious leaders are divided on the topic of divorce and remarriage. Some are steadfast in their belief that a divorced person who remarries is committing adultery. This dogma is very problematic since a good number of many congregants are not only divorced but are also remarried. What do these spiritual leaders tell their congregants who are “living in sin”? Do they just ignore it and move to the next topic not caring if these people actually make it into the kingdom, or do they tell these couples to separate, stop living together, and stop conducting themselves as husbands and wives?

It is true that divorce is not God’s ideal plan for His children. He established a model of marriage from the beginning to which He desires us to attain. The marriage before the fall was full of good and wonderful things. It was full of life, joy, wholeness, and prophecy. The post-fall marriage was one of unequal distribution of power, control, tyranny, lust, brokenness, abuse, and so on. In the first marriage, the covenant is complete and divorce is anathema; however, in the second, God allows for the severing of the matrimonial bonds in order to protect the weak and vulnerable.

Beloved, in Malachi 2:16, there are two things pertaining to the marital home  that God hates equally: divorce, and domestic abuse. Divorce is extremely violent in God’s eyes because it is an act of hate. Divorce in the Bible occurred if a man threw his wife out of the house and chose someone else to be his wife.

Think about the scene in the movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman where the husband came home and literally dragged his wife out of the house and locked her out. That was the actual divorce, and although most divorces may not be like that one, it certainly paints a picture of the violence that is really at the root of driving one’s spouse away.

It is this type of behavior that God hated then and hates now. Divorce is a violent and unjust thing no matter how amicable the couple tries to make it. Keep in mind, however, that by the time the couple actually goes through the legalities of severing the marital bonds, the divorce has already taken place. Legally, they are still married and would be committing adultery if they each got involved intimately with other people, but once the legal bonds has been dissolved, they are free to pursue other relationships.

God does not agree with divorce for obvious reasons, but He allows for the matrimonial bonds to be severed in cases of divorce in order to protect the one who was abused through ill-treatment in the marriage and the subsequent divorce. Speaking of abuse, that same verse in Malachi states that God also hates those who “cover their garments in violence.” The word garment is actually a euphemism for wife, so we can see that God hates abuses within the home as much as He hates the violence that causes someone to reject and push out his or her spouse in order to have a relationship with someone else.

Once again, from a Biblical standpoint, divorce and the legal severing of the marriage bonds though connected, are two separate actions. In today’s language, Biblical divorce is known as separation. Think about this! God hates the separation of marital partners because it goes against the “two shall become one flesh” thing and because it is really an act of violence.  Separation between married couples disrupts the unity for which all married couples should strive. Yet there are those who teach people not to go through the severing of the marital bonds but to live in separation if they cannot live together.

A separated (divorced) couple must seriously consider reconciliation, for living apart indefinitely will more than likely lead to one or both of them sinning by getting involved with other people. If one or both partners get involved intimately with other people, their chances of reconciling with each other have fallen drastically. As a matter of fact, according to the Bible, they are not even supposed to go back to each other once they have allowed themselves to be with other people sexually. Living separated from one’s spouse indefinitely is unfair and unjust, and severing the matrimonial bonds becomes a true act of mercy. Once that severing has taken place, they are both free to go on with their lives and to remarry. The Torah actually presumes that remarriage will occur.

In Jesus’ and Paul’s time, marriage was becoming more stable and defined than in the times previously where it was not frowned upon for a man to have more than one wife. A woman was never allowed to have more than one husband, but a man was allowed to have as many wives as he desired and could afford.

After the fall, marriage among other things became deeply convoluted. It was society and culture which determined the laws governing marriage, and it is very much like that today. Even protestant marriage ceremonies conducted in most churches are governed by the civil laws of the State or country in which they were performed meaning that the church has no legal say over these marriages. How then can we claim that these couples were joined by God?

Catholics and Jews have a much deeper understanding about what it means to be joined by God in matrimony. In these religious sectors, marriage cannot take place between an adherent and a non-adherent. A Jew and a non-Jew would not be allowed to marry in Israel. If the mixed couple marries outside of Israel, their marriage might not be recognized in Israel.

Some people struggle with the teachings of Jesus and Paul regarding divorce and remarriage. However, there really are no real conflicts once we realize that divorce in their days means separation in our time. The Hebrew word for divorce literally means “to send away.” And that was all it took to be divorced.

In our time, divorce means the entire legal process we go through to dissolve the union. In Jesus’ time and still today according to Jewish laws, the legal side involved the giving of the Get or certificate of divorce. The Get is actually a covenant which effectively annuls the first covenant.

Everything both Jesus and Paul said regarding divorce and remarriage had to do with the divorced couple before the enactment or giving of the Get. If no Get was given, the couple would still be married to each other. Once we understand fully what divorce really is, we will gain deeper insights and appreciation for the teachings of both Jesus and Paul on this matter.

To learn more on this topic, check out my youtube channel: Jewmaican Messianic where you will find a series of videos entitled Ministering to the Divorced Person. i hope that you have been blessed and that you are ready to live your best life yet!

God desires to make you completely whole and fill your life with joy and purpose. Don’t let this opportunity to appropriate your healing pass you by.

God Bless You!

 

Setting Boundaries

The word wall often carries a negative connotation, but when we take a closer look, there are so many more positives than negatives when it comes to setting boundaries. Everyone needs boundaries, and sometimes, that boundary by necessity might be a wall or a fence.

I love boundaries. They guarantee that others can know where they stand with me and vice versa. My boundaries help to define my rights and inform others as to how not to violate those rights. Boundaries must exist between individuals, groups, and nations, not for the purpose of segregation, but for the purpose of clarification. How else will others know what is acceptable or unacceptable to a person, a group, or a nation?

The truth is, without boundaries, there can be no true respect. There must be clear lines of demarcation, and how well we respect those lines will testify to our respect for that individual, group, or nation.

Lack of respect is one of the main culprits for creating anger and hatred between diverse parties. When one does not recognize and respect the rights of another or choose to advocate the rights of one at the expense of the other, there is sure to be resentments and negativity on the part of the one whose rights are being disenfranchised. Setting a physical boundary can go a long way towards mitigating a great deal of the negativity.

It is not enough, however, to simply set physical boundaries. One must enforce those boundaries because there are always those who take pleasure in overstepping boundaries. Without the ability to enforce even personal boundaries, it is impossible to protect personal rights. Generalize the inability to protect physical boundaries to groups and nations, and no one will be able to claim any rights whatsoever.

For many people, physical boundaries act as a natural deterrent. Sometimes, it is as simple as writing your name on the food you bought that you put in a refrigerator that is being used by others. Sometimes it is a sign that warns trespassers to stay away or be prosecuted.  Those who violate boundaries will choose the soft way first – the house without the sign that says “Beware the dog”, and the neighborhood without the neighborhood watch signs first.

Little signs with fake, scary messages aside, sooner or later the boundary needs to be something a lot more substantial than a sign which may or may not lack bite.

Recently, the maintenance crew at the apartment complex where I live built a beautiful wooden fence to cut off access to the residents of the neighboring complex. Because there was no fencing, the people from that other complex turned my complex into a shortcut to get to the nearby grocery store. The non-residents also used our parking lot which forced residents to park in non-parking areas, thus reaping the reprimand of the landlords over and over again. Additionally, instead of using their dumpsters, the non-residents would often use ours. Surprise, surprise! I haven’t had any problems finding parking spots ever since they built the fence.

None of the residents in my complex were informed that there was going to be new boundary fencing. I imagine that the non-residents weren’t as well. Thankfully, no one protested. They can still come and steal our parking places and fill up our dumpsters, and use the shortcut, but now, it will take a lot more energy.

Speaking of boundaries, we are getting ready to build a big, beautiful, magnificent wall along our southern borders. We need that boundary in place for all the reasons mentioned above and so much more. The liberal world is pushing us towards a homogeneous mess which is completely counter to the cries for diversity. Boundaries preserve diversity, and bridges connect cultures. So, let’s set boundaries and build “bridges”. Those are the ways through which we will be able to maintain true respect for one another.

Open borders or lack of boundaries do not inspire anything but lawlessness, disrespect, hatred, anger, abuse, and ingratitude. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with having open doors while maintaining executive rights to decide who gets to come in for dinner.

 

 

Peanut Vendor

Dad planted the peanuts and harvested them. Mom did the roasting in a dutch oven, set up on three rocks, surrounding a small wood fire.

They were hopeful, and I was embarrassed.

We made a paper funnel from newspaper and closed the small opening at the bottom. Into the much wider mouth, we poured roasted peanuts still encased in their salted shells. We filled it up and folded the top closed.

They were excited, and I was anxious.

Monday morning arrived, and along with the weekly school allowance came a half dozen packed, peanut funnels.

“Sell these to your classmates, and bring the money home,” said Mom and Dad.

And now I was ashamed.

Oh, God. I was in the ninth grade, and now, if my friends didn’t already know it, I was almost worse than dirt-poor. I was the poor, anxious, embarrassed, reluctant peanut vendor, self-consciously and reluctantly hawking my goods during the lunch break.

It was a very short-lived career. I sold only a few peanut funnels here and there. I was just too self-conscious and ashamed to encourage much interest in my product.

I wish now that I could have seen myself as a funnel for prosperity to my beautiful family. A wrong attitude and a wrong mindset made me the suckiest peanut vendor ever.

But guess what I discovered? We are all funnels for good or for bad. Hopefully, with the right mindset, we will choose to lean more towards good rather than bad.

 

 

 

Funnel – Daily Post

My New Book on Amazon

Bitter Honey

Bad words are like bitter honey and dead bees. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21).

 

 

 

 

F-Bomb Explosion

Does anyone ever wonder how people came up with cuss words? I don’t happen to use profanity, but it seems I am surrounded by those who do.

Cuss words don’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I still laugh when I’m watching an American show and they have a fake rastaman with a fake Jamaican accent hollering, “Bumboclaat!” I know that “claat” means cloth, but what in heaven’s name is a “bumbo”? Where did it come from, and who came up with it?

That’s the thing about cuss words. Most of the people using them probably have no idea what they really mean and what their origins are.

On the other hand, most people have a pretty good idea what the most popular cuss word – the infamous F-word, means. I don’t use it, but it is becoming such a mainstream word that I have wondered about its origins a time or two.

How many people know that it’s really an acronym? I certainly didn’t until today when a friend off-handedly mentioned it in a conversation we were having. He said it meant “Fornication under consent of the king.” He said that some kings would reward returning warriors with a girl with whom to fornicate the night away.

He also mentioned that the same acronym was written in Indiana law as “Fornication Under Carnal Knowledge.”

This is definitely one of those things that make you go,”Huh.” Maybe the F-word could be used to stir up some interest in history. The next time I hear someone close to me use it, I just might go all historian on whoever it happens to be. On the other hand, I just might respond in kind and tell them to go “fornicate under carnal knowledge” with themselves. Somehow, that doesn’t pack the same punch, does it?

Oh, dear! I think people would stop cussing if they were forced to say it the long way! Of course, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing at all.

I must admit that apart from doing a quick Google search to confirm what my friend told me, no deep research went into this effort. This is mostly a conversation between friends. I definitely still plan on being mum when it comes to pronouncing the f-word.

Check out my new book on Amazon

 

 

The Storm

Storms are inevitable. They buffet us day and night in different forms. They are the forces of nature around us or the forces of our own unchecked natures. They can be external or internal, physical or spiritual. Sometimes, they show up as disagreements between lovers and friends or they strike suddenly in the form of personal tragedies.

I think about Horatio G. Spafford who experienced one tragic storm after another: losing his young son to pneumonia, much of his property to the Great Chicago Fire, and his four daughters to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

This was a man who could see no other viable option but to go through each of those storms as they came, with unflinching faith in the goodness of his God. As he stood on the deck of the vessel carrying him to England to join his wife, he looked out on the smooth, glassy water where the ship transporting his family had sunk, and he could say, no matter what, that his soul was okay.

Spafford’s story is one of many, but few come through with the kind of spirit and heart this man displayed. Roughly 145 years ago, while on his trip to England to reunite with his wife, Mr. Spafford wrote the lyrics to the famous hymn, “It is Well with My Soul.” It is a song that breathes comfort, hope, and a trust that refuses to question the fairness of the Divine One.

We still sing his song, today. The words of his timeless lyrics were not merely written. They were forged through his fiery trials and have lasted and endured to remind us that even though we do not choose the storms, it can, indeed, be well with our souls.

Viable

Warm Reads on Cold Winter Nights

Grab a mug of hot chocolate. Cuddle up under a fluffy, Sherpa blanket, and cozy up to your tablet to get some “warm reads.” Borrow How They Met by Charlene Mathis for free on your Kindle, or purchase it for $2.99. If you’re like me and like the smell and feel of a real  book in your hands, you can purchase the paperback version. Happy reading, and be sure to let me know how you feel afterward.

 

New Year Resolutions

Last year, I made only one New Year’s Resolution. This has been quite a journey, but I am happy to say that I have done it! Last year, I was determined that I was going to write and publish a book. I started at the beginning of the year, and several discarded manuscript later, I finally produced something I was proud to share with others.

If there is one thing I have learned from going through the various processes leading to my becoming an author and independent publisher, it is that it isn’t enough to just say you want to do something. You have to actually start doing it. Come up with a plan, and bring your friends and family in on it. Engage your support base, network, and put some good, old elbow grease into the project.

There will be challenges. Some of them will seem almost insurmountable. They come, wanting you to agree with them. Whatever you do, don’t agree. Don’t give up. Publishing my ebook and paperback took longer than anticipated. All the huge obstacles started to get in my way, and I had to fight the discouragement. I pressed through and discovered that the timing was just about perfect.

I submitted my manuscript and published my ebook at 9:29 pm on New Year’s Eve. I submitted the print manuscript on New Year’s Day. Now, I am at the pinnacle, so where do I go from here? I can certainly cross book-writing and self-publishing off the bucket list, but I can also set the bar higher and write another book, and another, and another. I like that idea very much.

For anyone who is interested, the title of my book is How They Met by Charlene Mathis available in paperback and as an ebook. If you have a Kindle device, you can borrow it for free, or you can have a free sample downloaded to any device.