Miss Guided and Richard Turner

Miss Guided has been having fun responding to comments on her recent interview. She got so carried away in replying to one particular comment that she brought author Richard Turner, The Cheat along to share some stories. Before I knew what was happening, we ended up with such a long conversation that Miss Guided convinced me to post it as a separate blog entry. That angel can be very persuasive!

It all started with a comment from Jay:

Texas hold’em is one of the best. I wanna play again asap!

I responded:

Jay,

I guarantee you don’t want to play with Matt McCain or Richard Turner. You’ve already lost if you play against either of them.

Miss Guided said:

Texas Hold’em Jay, My happy Hold’em human Matt is the mirror of the author of Re-Deal. Like you he would play through the day. However, I must say there were times he would appallingly pitch the aces from the center as he would play. But those days are far from today where he now prefers to honestly play.

Richard Turner, the author of Re-Deal A Time Travel Thriller, is a card mechanic. He does not do tinker toy tricks. He demonstrates the most demanding moves ever formulated for swindling with cards.

The mirror of my man Matt has received million-dollar offers to swindle with his center deal, but he is now a born-from-above man and uses his second dealing skills to stir and stimulate rather than swindle the sucker.

You may have seen the mirror of my man Matt on that box humans seem to stare at from the snow season to the summer. Miss Lillie, can you select a few shows to share with our Hold’em human Jay?

Lillie answered:

Certainly, Miss Guided. Richard’s unparalleled touch with a pack of 52 has been written about and featured on dozens of TV specials around the globe, such as That’s Incredible, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, The 700 Club, The Paul Daniels Show on the BBC, and World Geniuses in Japan. Publications across the country, including the Los Angeles Times, the Dallas Times Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, and Genii Magazine have profiled Richard.

Miss Guided responded:

So Mister Human Hold’em Jay, I will now let Richard turner tell you why he doesn’t double deal this day.

Richard Turner joined the conversation:

Well, Jay, this goes back to the 80’s. I did something that was stupid and could have been hazardous to my health. I was the resident cheat on a riverboat for six years, and I met a lawyer who talked me into playing in a poker game with two other attorneys and one banker.

He told me, “We are all in the same business of cheating, so if you have ever dealt with a lawyer or banker, here’s a chance to get some of your own stolen money back.”

We played all night long, and my confederate and I cleaned everyone out without anyone being the wiser. Everything continued smoothly until the last hand when I picked up the deck and, by touch and without thinking, said, “There are two cards missing.”

The banker sitting to my right leaned over and in a low, suspicious voice asked, “How can you pick up a deck and tell there’s two cards missing?”

The two cards were found under the place mat of one of the attorneys across the table from me, and it wasn’t my partner. It was another cheat. The banker did not know what to think. One player hiding cards under a mat, while another player could pick up a deck and tell the cards were missing.

And now, as they say, the rest of the story: Two years later, after the airing of  my appearance on That’s Incredible, I was sitting at a Coco’s Restaurant when a man came up to my table and said, “You’re Richard Turner. You once cheated me out of a bunch of money! I’m the banker who questioned how you could pick up a deck and tell two cards were missing from the pack.”

My stomach instantly plunged. I remembered the game well. I was wondering what the guy was going to say or do next—maybe do a Doc Holliday and pull a gun? During the game I had found the banker to be a cold and stern player.

To my shock and surprise, the fellow thrust forth his hand and grabbed mine. With an excited smile, he said, “I saw you on That’s Incredible! I just wanted to say Hi! It was a great show! Now I know how you could tell there were two cards missing! Wow, it was a privilege to have been cheated by you!”

As the banker walked away, I was left sitting there with my mouth hanging open.

Lillie said:

Thank you, Miss Guided and Richard, for sharing that amusing story.So did you learn any lesson from that?

Richard answered:

I decided no more cheating with a partner. I must be honest and say I did have a few more slips, but not in the past 18 years.

Lillie said:

Richard, I understand it was a different story if they openly challenged you as “The Cheat.”

Richard answered:

You bet! If you challenged me knowing me as The Cheat, you were in trouble, like the carpet dealer in San Diego. I decided to remodel one of my homes  to fit my antique furniture. I went to a carpet store, and the owner recognized me from a TV show I had been featured on. He introduced himself as the proprietor and offered to personally help me find my carpet. As we looked at the different carpet selections, the owner told me how he was particularly impressed with how I could pick off from the deck the exact number of cards requested. He insisted I must be using some kind of funny cards with an indexing system. I told him I could do it with any pack of cards—I could even do it with his personal business cards.

I found a carpet to my liking, and we went back to the owner’s office to complete the sale. We were sitting at the man’s desk when another customer came in and asked the owner for one of his business cards.

As the customer left, the owner remembered what I had said about being able to pick off a specific number of his business cards. He turned back to me and said, “Are you telling me you can do it with these?”

I said, “You bet.”

“Then do it!” the owner said.

“Hold it,” I said. “You don’t work for free. So why should I?”

The owner said, “So you really can’t do it with my business cards. It’s just an act! I knew you must be using some kind of trick deck!”

I said, “Tell you what. If I do it with your business cards and get the number you ask for, you give me the carpet for free. If I don’t get it with your cards, I’ll pay double for the carpet.”

The owner asked for 17 cards from the stack and I handed him 17 cards. The new carpet looked really good with my antique furniture.

Lillie said:

Another good story, Richard.

During my years editing Re-Deal I learned many of the stories in the book about offers made to Matt to cheat were based on actual offers you received from the mob. Would you mind sharing a few with us?

Richard answered:

Because of my ability to cheat undetectably, I could be a very rich … dead man. I have been wined and dined by some of the most powerful crime families in the country. After seeing what I could do with the cards, a mobster offered me a thousand dollars a day to come work for him. I said no! He said 2K a day. After I still refused, he then invited me to tell him how much it would cost to buy me. I had images of waking up to a horse’s head!

Lillie said:

Tell my readers about that offer from overseas.

Miss Guided said:

Oh, I’m partial to that particular parable.

Richard said:

That offer came from the Middle East. I was first offered $10,000 a week to play for oil money. I said no. They said $20,000 a week. After a series of refusals, they finally upped the offer to one million dollars. Once again my answer was no!

Lillie said:

Wow, a million dollar offer! I’ve never had a million dollar offer to do anything. Since Miss Guided conned—I mean convinced me—to put this conversation up as new blog post, we have time for a few more stories if you’re up to it.

Richard said:

Another powerful crime family who would watch me aboard the riverboat approached me about doing a little business. I told them about the offer I had from the Middle East and that I had said, “No, thanks.”

They strongly told me don’t take the offer! They said, “In a situation like that, you will be 100 per cent used. Do you know what that means?”

I told them, “I know what it means. It means they kill you when they’re done with you.”

One of the mobsters said, “The Arabians own half the world, and we own the other half. We can arrange for these games to take place here in the United States, and we’ll back you here.”

Lillie, at that very moment I thought to myself, Wow, I will be 100 per cent used in my own country. I’ll die here in the US! Now that’s the deal I’ve been looking for! Buried in American dirt!

Lillie said:

I’m glad you’re not buried in American dirt. Perhaps we should wrap up this conversation.

Miss Guided said:

My happy Hold”Em human hasn’t told you the tale of the terrible travesty of that evil traveling jewel man. You must hear that story. That could have ended in terrific tragedy and termination of Mr. Cheat’s earthly life.

Lillie answered:

Okay, let’s hear one more story of how you managed to avoid pushing up lilies.

Richard said:

Very funny, Lillie!

This was the most frightening offer of all. I was on an airline flight to a performance when the stranger in the seat next to me lowered his paper.

“Hello, Mr. Turner,” he said. “We have talked by phone, but I wanted to talk to you in person to discuss doing a little business together.”

I must say, I was startled. This was something from a Godfather movie. No one knew I was on that flight. And that was just the beginning.  After that incident, this very scary creep would be waiting for me at restaurants. He knew about my likes and dislikes, very personal things! The man would call me on hotel lines when I was a thousand miles from home, inviting me to join him downstairs for dinner or a drink.

He was a diamond broker from South Africa, and he tried to give me a five-carat diamond pinky ring just to show me his good faith. As another bribe, at one meal he gave me the business and personal numbers of Johnny Carson, suggesting I might like to be on the Tonight Show. I gave the numbers to some friends with the police. After an investigation, they determined the numbers were legitimate.

The police decided I needed protection and should know how to use a gun. For six months I was trained by Chuck Curtis, the captain of the SWAT team.  He armed me with a Walther PPK, which I still have today.

Lillie said:

That’s scary. Is that where the story ends?

Richard answered:

No, things didn’t stop there. Over one dinner, he told me how it cost him $400,000 to buy off a judge for a murder he had committed.

However, the most frightening moment came when he offered to have my wife or anyone else I chose murdered. He said it would be an accident or there would be an explosion, and no one would ever know I was behind the killing.

He said all these things to try and entice or intimidate me into accepting his 200,000 to 300,000 dollar offer to cheat in high-stake card games over in South Africa.

Lillie said:

You’re still not pushing up lilies so I take that you again said no.

Richard answered:

I did not accept anything from these gangsters or anyone else. Like in the movie Godfather, I didn’t want to wake up to a horse’s head.

I decided to avoid even the appearance of bad behavior and instead to give back. Over the past two decades, my beautiful wife Kim and I have had the privilege to speak to tens of thousands of kids and many corporate executives on the wonderful opportunities God has given to us in this great country to reach our dreams honestly.

Miss Guided said:

My man Matt and Mr. Cheat here make me proud.

Lillie said:

I know you have dined with the rich and famous and received many honors and awards because you have chosen to use your talents honestly. For all the Hold’em players out there, we thank you. And thank you for taking the time to visit this humble little blog.

Richard said:

You’re welcome.

Lillie said:

Richard and Miss Guided, we must close for now.  At another time, I’d like to ask you about the karate character Juan, aka Kicker, in your novel Re-Deal. I know you’re a fifth degree black belt and many of the stories in Re-Deal also relate to your fighting experiences. If you don’t mind talking about it, I’m sure my readers would like to know how you can fight when you can only see shadows.

Richard said:

On April 2, I leave for an eight-city tour, but I’ll be happy to visit again and answer questions as time permits.

Thank you and thanks to all your blog friends! And please let us know what you thought of Re-Deal A Time Travel Thriller.

Lillie said:

Whew! This long conversation all came about from a single comment. Though Richard and Miss  Guided will be here only a couple of days to respond to comments, they’ll be back later in April.

Lemonade Award

Deb S. at Media by Sistrunk honored this blog with the Lemonade Award, which ”recognizes sites that show great attitude and/or gratitude.”

I’m especially grateful for this recognition because I wasn’t familiar with Deb’s blog. To be recognized by a blogger new to me was a special honor. Thank you, Deb. Now that I’ve discovered your blog, I’ve subscribed and look forward to reading more.

 

Here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude and/or gratitude.
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Nominate your favorites, and link to this post.

And the nominees are … :

• Brooke, The Bluestocking Guide, whose reviews reflect her personality and attitude
• Catherine Lawson, Cath Lawson, who shares her struggles and her strength
• Joanna Young, Confident Writing, who helps us all become more confident
• James Doughty, Doughty Families, who posts wonderful motivational quotes
• Robert Hruzek, Middle Zone Musings, whose posts are entertaining and encouraging
• Renea Brumbaugh, Morning Coffee, who reflects an attitude of faith
• Helen Ginger, Straight from Hel, who is both realistic and positive about publishing
• Brad Shorr, Word Sell, who shows a great attitude toward business and social media
• Karen Swim, Words for Hire, who inspires and touches with her eloquent words
• Jeanne Dininni, Writer’s Notes, who always shows gratitude to readers

There are others deserving of this award, but I’ll leave some blogs for my nominees to recognize. Some of you may choose not to respond; just know that I appreciate the attitude and gratitude you exhibit on your blog.

A Visit with Miss Guided

Lillie: Some very interesting and talented guests have visited this blog, but never before have we entertained an … oh, I’ll let our guest tell you that. Welcome to A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye, Miss Guided.

Miss Guided: Why, thank you, Miss Lillie. This time-traveling tutor is thrilled to take time to talk to you about this time-travel thriller.

Lillie: You look and talk differently than anyone I’ve ever met before. Just who or what are you really?

Miss Guided: My marvelous, meek mortal, Miss Lillie, if I perhaps present to you my personal purpose on this planet and impart to you, a Heaven-loved human, what I truly am, the secret stays between us?”

Lillie: Of course, Miss Guided. I’ll keep this between us and a few blog friends.

Miss Guided: Well, Miss Lillie, I am just another created consciousness known in the Heavens as a direct-contact angel on assignment as a human in the guise of a Southern governess to tickle and teach my mortal man, whose name is Matt McCain.

Lillie: How did you get the name Miss Guided?

Miss Guided: My Satan-slaying senior Sir Gabe says I am his favorite angel of joy and that when I am on assignment I’m able to use any appellation that tickles this mirthful marm so I chose the moniker Miss Guided.

Lillie: Who is Matt McCain?

Miss Guided: My new man Matthew is another son of Adam, and this angel is elated to have such an adroit charge. Allow me to recite an example. The Divine Creator wondered if Eve’s offspring would notice the delicacy of oranges already put into nice bite-size sections before they were skinned, and my man Matt marveled at the mystery and determined it must be divine intervention.

Lillie: And why are you helping him?

Miss Guided: I am helping him because my fiend-fighting foreman Sir Gabe, the head of the heavenly host, assigned his favorite glad guardian to strive to help my charge to re-acquire their fine family ranch while stopping him from smacking his toe on a stone.

You see, Miss Lillie, Matthew McCain was a very mistreated mortal. He is raging over a sadistic assault with an enlarging looking glass, which destroyed his vision. I must say, it was the loathsome Lucifer and his human Cypher servants at their wickedest.

But Miss Lillie, I’m sure our worthy Master permitted the black angel’s aggression because it can be the McCain family’s key to redemption, though it will take Matt’s pains and purposefulness to procure it.

Lillie: Who is Juan?

Miss Guided: Juan is an orphan that came from one of sick Cypher’s sad orphanages in Mexico. This is where Satan’s servant Cypher stocked and supplied all his cheap labor. Juan got his name Kicker after I snatched him with my man Matt from Cypher and sent them to Master Murphy’s to learn martial fighting facilities. I did this to prepare them for their trip through time to take down Cypher’s antecedents. I must say, Miss Lillie, Kicker can kick really cool!

Lillie: Who are the Cyphers? How did they get to be so rich and powerful?

Miss Guided: My aforementioned man was Matt’s great grandfather Lucas McCain. I’m embarrassed to say. but I was slightly misdirected as my man McCain sat down to a game of stud with John Cypher and was swindled by Cypher’s forbearer out of his lavish lands and loads of Longhorns.

You see, Miss Lillie, John Cypher openly used slave labor in his silver mines. As slavery became unacceptable to society, with the McCain stake John Cypher stealthily opened a number of manual work farms in Mexico. Here he had an endless supply of the destitute. The devious man’s descendants continued to swell the business through card cheating, political manipulations, and financial influences.

Lillie: Let get off this topic of evil for a minute. What does it mean to travel outside of time?

Miss Guided: Well, Miss Lillie, I’ll elucidate as clearly as I know how. Outside of time is from where the Lord of Lords reigns. It’s where every day is existing now. Beginning with the devouring of the fruit in the Garden of Eden to the return of the King of Kings on His white stallion, outside of time is where a second is as a thousand years and a thousand years is but a jiffy. That is why your Creator can consider what everyone is doing at all times. First grade arithmetic will tell you His Majesty has a thousand years of seconds to note your meaningful one second prayer. And if my mental math is proper, that is 525,600,000 minutes to listen to you. That, Miss Lillie, is why this century and that one ahead of us are no longer separated by time. They are both the existing, the present, the now.

However, Miss Lillie, I was warned strongly by Sir Gabe that retroaction to a past period is sporadically permitted. The chances for unforeseen consequences are profoundly probable so I was pleased that my chief cherub permitted me to pursue this precarious path.

Lillie: What will Matt and Kicker be doing back in the past?

Miss Guided: Well, of course Kicker likes to put fast-flying feet in his foe’s faces while my man Matt must match wits with the worst gamblers of the Old West—Wild Bill Hickok; that sick psychopath Doc Holliday; and the most feared cheater of all, S. W. Erdnase. My charge must carry out this to win enough cash and coin to procure a place at the table with the cheating John Cypher.

Lillie: I know our readers are eager to hear more about this game, but we don’t want to give away the whole story. Tell me about Richard Turner, The Cheat, and why he came to tell your story in the book Re-Deal.

Miss Guided: Well, Miss Lillie, it goes like this. Mr. Cheat was asked many times to pen his pursuit and perils to become a world-class card mechanic despite his vision loss. He even had past proposals to play a part in a moving picture about his life, but instead he penned this time-travel thriller to tell his story.

Lillie: Where can readers learn more or buy a copy of Re-Deal?

Miss Guided: Oh Miss Lillie, it’s very simple. You see, to get a personally signed copy with one of Mr. Cheat’s special decks of cards,  just go to RichardTurner52.com.

 

Lillie: Thank you, Miss Guided. This has been a fun interview—my first with an angel and perhaps the wittiest answers I’ve ever had to interview questions. Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers?

Miss Guided: If your fans or family want a fun story filled with fighting foes with an inspiring message, feel free to find a copy of Re-Deal: A Time Travel Thriller for all your favorite friends.

Lillie: We’ve shown a picture of the book cover and a picture of the author. Did you by chance bring a photo of yourself to show our readers?

Miss Guided: Will this stay just between us?

Lillie: Just like the secret of who you are—just you, me, and a few readers.

Miss Guided: Well,  Miss Lillie, I’m sure you know that cameras can’t capture created consciousness. But  I did endeavor to engage a picture of my mortal man Matt and myself in the form of a fragile female as a little town tutor. I’m particularly partial to this particular picture.

Lillie: That’s lovely, Miss Guided. Thank you for letting us have a glimpse of your human form.

Miss Guided has promised to come back during the day and bring the author, Richard Turner, The Cheat, with her. Leave your questions and comments for Richard and Miss Guided, and they will respond as soon as they can.

Re-Deal: A Time-Travel Thriller

As you know if you’ve read my blog for some time, I am always as excited when a client publishes a new book as I am about my own books. Sometimes I describe my work with authors as being that of a midwife, helping to birth a bouncing baby book.

Re-Deal: A Time-Travel Thriller by Richard Turner, “The Cheat,”  was born earlier this month.

Richard began the novel eleven years ago, and by the time he found me, he had written 164,000 words.

Although he was at first appalled that I wanted to get rid of about a third of those words, he agreed that he would decide after I edited the first chapter. He couldn’t tell what I’d left out so he agreed to let me continue. I described how I eliminated excess words in a guest post at Poewar.

Re-Deal may be the most unusual book I’ve ever worked on—time travel back to the Old West, a hero who is a card mechanic and a karate expert, a sidekick who is a karate black belt and an evangelist, the Cyphers who are the personification of evil, gambling and poker, a life-and-death struggle against time … and a guardian angel who earned her name Miss Guided by not always getting her assignments quite right.

Although the story is fantasy, Richard Turner writes from experience. He is known as “The Cheat” and has been called “the greatest card mechanic in the world.” He has performed around the world, produced a series of DVDs on card manipulation, created board and puzzle games, earned a fifth-degree black belt in karate, and received so many awards  and honors that I’d still be writing next week if I tried to list them all. Oh … and he’s done all this with eyesight four times lower than legally blind.

Here is the back cover blurb:

Buckle up for time travel, karate, and gambling in this action-adventure thriller. Matt McCain, a young man trying to overcome personal loss and family misfortune, and his amigo Juan, a Mexican orphan turned evangelist, are pitted against the Cyphers, a family that utilizes evil for every gain. The presence of Miss Guided, the angel who doesn’t always get it right, changes them all.

With more twists than a switchback trail, Re-Deal is a time traveling race against evil and misfortune. An 1882 poker showdown promises to change history forever, and Matt McCain aims to be the winner. But first he must match skills with the greatest cheaters of the Old West—from Doc Holliday to S. W. Erdnase.

The players, the power, and the present all hinge on the journey back to 1882, a trip through time that Re-Deals history in a startling conclusion.

In my fair, balanced, completely unbiased view—OK, I admit that’s not quite true. —in my completely biased opinion, Miss Guided is one of the most original fictional characters ever created. I’m excited that she will be visiting A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye on Friday. I’ve asked her to bring Richard along so you can ask questions of both of them.

I’m confident you won’t meet a guardian angel anywhere else this week, and I know you’ll never meet anyone like Miss Guided!

Thanks to February Commenters

	Thank you to the 126 commenters who left 194 comments in February. Your comments extended the conversation and added value and interest.
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Healing Miracles: Part 3—Thanks Be to God

About three years ago, I was late to church and had to sit a few rows from the back. I always sat in the back pew to be prepared to make a hasty exit if I start jumping as well as to avoid distracting other people as I sit wrapped up in blankets trying to stay warm. A woman I had never seen before and have never seen since spoke to me after the service.

“I saw you sitting in front of me and felt a strong urge to pray for you. You have heart trouble, don’t you?”

I responded in the negative.

“I had this vision of lines going through your body. I thought they were veins and arteries.”

I told her my problem was in my nervous system. “Nerves, that’s what I saw,” she said. “I got a message from God when I was praying for you. You’ve been healed, but the healing may take a while to manifest. So if you have symptoms for a while, just tell yourself you’ve been healed, and the healing will manifest soon.”

I was so excited to hear this that I didn’t even think to find out who the woman was, and to this day I can’t even remember what she looked like. Instead of praying for healing, I started thanking God in my prayers for the healing that would manifest soon. But as time passed, no healing manifested. In fact, my symptoms worsened. Several times, I stayed for healing services at church, but other than that, I didn’t ask anyone else to pray for me except in isolated cases when other people saw me jumping.

Maybe it goes back to that control issue. I thought I should be able to pray for myself. Besides, there were so many other people with more serious problems than I had that it didn’t seem fair to ask clergy or prayer intercessors to spend their time praying for me when they needed to be praying for people with cancer and other life-threatening conditions. Father Chip always quotes James 8:14-16.

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Since I haven’t been able to attend Bible study at All Saints, I’ve taken a number of online Bible studies in the JesusWalk Bible Study Series from Joyful Heart Ministries. In a study of James, I was struck by Pastor Ralph Wilson’s comments on this passage. He said some faith is necessary for healing, and quoted Mark 6:5-6: “He could not do any miracles there … and he was amazed at their lack of faith.”

But then he went on to point out that “the sick person is to ‘call for the elders of the church,’ but it is the elders who are responsible to pray the ‘prayer of faith.’ (Pastor Ralph Wilson, JesusWalk Bible Study—James: Practical Christianity)

In mid-April 2008, after I had missed several consecutive Sundays, Father Chip said he wanted to give me Unction and pray for healing. So between the two Sunday morning services, I sat on the back pew surrounded by Father Chip and two prayer intercessors. Father Chip anointed me with oil and prayed for healing. He got my attention with the words, “Lord, I’m tired of seeing this woman suffer!” Amen to that! He prayed as long as I jumped. When the jumping stopped, Father Chip stopped praying. When the jumping started again, he started praying again. I don’t recall how many times that happened, but Father Chip persisted until the jumping finally stopped … and stayed stopped. When I said I was still cold, he laid his hand on my left shoulder and prayed for warmth. His hand grew hot and the warmth spread through my left side.

Since that day, my symptoms have subsided dramatically. Following Father Chip’s advice, I have called on prayer intercessors several times when I’m going through a jumping spell. The members of intercessory prayer team at All Saints are always ready to pray whenever needed.

I started attending the Wednesday night Bible study and Evensong, something I have missed doing in recent years. Several people have commented that I appear “chipper” now—apparently the jumping had affected my attitude more than I realized. I still get cold on my left side, and I have a few random jerks, especially when I first go to bed if I’ve very tired. But the last severe jumping spell I’ve had was on my birthday—exactly six years from the day the jumping started.

Thanks be to God for healing and the intercession of powerful prayer warriors.

The All Saints prayer team will pray for anyone who needs prayer; if you or someone you know has a need for prayer, submit an online prayer request.

Ultimate Blog Party at The Bluestocking Guide

The Bluestocking Guide is participating in an Ultimate Blog Party this week.

I’m honored to be one of the fourteen authors she is hosting during the party. There will also be 9 book giveaways, including an autographed copy of Dream or Destiny, and a bunch of other great prizes as well.

Read all about it on Bluestocking’s party post.

Healing Miracles: Part 2—Remembering and Longing

Six years ago this past June, Jack and I drove to Blanco, a small town about an hour’s drive from San Antonio, for dinner with friends to celebrate my birthday. We had a lovely dinner and visit with our friends and were enjoying the trip home in quiet companionship.

Suddenly my left leg and arm flailed out, and I made a sound. Jack asked, “No? No, what?” I responded that I hadn’t said “No” … or anything. Then the jerk and the sound came again … and again … and again … The movements continued through the night and the next day. While I was sitting in the doctor’s office, several of his staff came to see what was happening. They thought someone was yelling “No” or “Oh” over and over again.

The doctor referred me to a neurologist, starting a round of tests, prescriptions, emergency room visits, more tests, more prescriptions, doctor’s appointments—but no results. In fact, some of the medication gave me symptoms like those of a stroke, requiring more tests. Month after month, year after year, the symptoms continued and worsened. I was continually cold on my left side, and cold triggered the “jumping” as Jack calls it. So did bright lights, loud noises, a touch to my left side, the motion of a car, air movement, and a myriad of other ordinary things. Gradually I became more and more reclusive. I went to church on Sunday unless I was in the midst of a jumping spell, but I seldom went anywhere else.

I could control the environment in my small office and in our home much better than I could control the environment anywhere else. Yet, even controlling my environment to eliminate triggers as much as possible, I had jumping spells almost every day. On occasion, the symptoms would be much worse: slurred speech, staggering, a feeling of disconnection with the world around me, and eventually strange noises and sensations that I couldn’t control.

Loss of control. That’s what I hated the most. The feeling of powerlessness that no matter what I did or didn’t do, the jumping would take over my body.

I prayed for healing but wondered if God was testing me or teaching me a lesson. I always knew God heals today just as much as Jesus healed in His earthly ministry. God had healed and saved me a number of times in my life.

• A Doberman knocked me down and started biting me on the top of my head. I tried to fight him off, but my resistance led only to bites on my arms. After what seemed like forever, I thought I would surely die. I prayed, Lord, it looks like I’m about to meet You. I don’t want to be fighting when I enter Heaven. Forgive my sins and take me into Your Kingdom. Then I went limp, at peace and ready to die. As soon as I went limp, the dog let me go. He stood and watched while I got up and walked away. The doctor consulted with a plastic surgeon before treating me because my skull was exposed in an area about the size of a quarter. The plastic surgeon recommended my family doctor stitch me up as best he could and treat the inevitable infection before the plastic surgeon would do skin grafts. After 50+ stitches, daily wound treatment, a course of antibiotics, and several days in bed with the most excruciating pain I’ve ever experienced, the wound healed with no infection and no skin graft.
• I was robbed and molested in my retail store by a serial armed robber/rapist. But what he did to me was not as bad as what he did to some of the other victims and what the police anticipated he would have done if he hadn’t been caught—the violence escalated with every attack, and the police feared he would commit murder before he was caught. Though I was traumatized, in time I overcame my fear.
• I suffered a rare Wallenberg syndrome stroke at the hands of a chiropractor. I was paralyzed on the right side, lost all sensation on the left side, couldn’t speak, suffered severe vision problems, and couldn’t lift my head off the pillow because my balance center was destroyed. The neurologist told me, “If we don’t see significant improvement in the first three days, you could be like this the rest of your life.” I was convinced that if I could move the fingers of my right hand and grab the bed rail with my left hand and lift my left shoulder off the bed, I would be all right. For three days, I lay in bed praying and trying to move. In the wee hours of the morning of the third day, I succeeded. I wanted to call everyone I knew and share the wonderful news, but I still couldn’t talk nor could I reach the phone. I spent a month in a rehabilitation hospital, three months in outpatient therapy, and five years in a wheelchair, but I knew I was healed on that third day.
• One day I crawled into bed with chills and fever. When Jack got home, he took my temperature—103° in a person whose normal temperature is 97°. He took me to the doctor, and when the doctor touched my abdomen I bounced high off the table. “Appendicitis,” the doctor pronounced. He instructed Jack to drive me to the emergency room because that would be faster than calling an ambulance. The surgeon who had removed my gall bladder a year earlier was in the hospital and arrived in the ER just as a nurse was preparing to take me for an ultrasound. “Take her straight to the operating room,” he told the nurse. Then he turned to me and said, “I’ve heard of people being green around the gills, but I’ve never seen anyone blue before. That appendix is going to burst any second.” After surgery, he asked me how I could have stood the pain. My appendix had burst at least a week earlier but had shriveled up in a little pocket without spreading into the abdominal cavity and causing serious problems. I had never felt any pain until the doctor palpated my abdomen, and the first symptom had been fever. I remembered that I had been nauseous about a week earlier after I ate lunch, but the nausea went away quickly, and I thought my meal had disagreed with me.

You would think after all these healings, I would expect God to heal my jumping. But the longer the problem persisted, the less faith I had that I would get better. Every time I had been healed before, I saw steady, though sometimes slow, improvement. I could look back and see how much better I was than a week, a month, a year, or several years earlier. Not only was the jumping not improving, it was actually getting worse. I reached the point that I was having frequent bad spells, each followed by a long, deep sleep. Waking up after that cycle, I felt like I was trying to drag myself out of the miry pit of Psalm 40:2.

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

I desperately wanted God to bring me up out of the pit and set my feet upon a rock.

Healing Miracles: Part 1—Why Am I Surprised?

I’ve had osteoarthritis for years, especially in my left knee. A few days before Christmas, I tripped and fell, landing on my right knee on the concrete floor. I was able to get up and move around with only mild pain and a little bruising. However, the pain continued to worsen. By the day after Jack’s birthday party, it was getting hard for me to get around. The next day, my right knee gave way, and I fell flat on my face in the laundry room.

The pain was excruciating, and I couldn’t get up. Jack heard me fall and came running, but when he tried to help me up, the pain was too severe for me to stand, even with his help. I drug myself through the house, lying flat on the floor and maneuvering myself forward with my arms. Jack helped me sit in a chair and change out of my pajamas into clothes. We called EMS, and they helped me into the wheelchair Jack pulled out of the storeroom, wheeled me outside, and assisted me to make the transfer to the car for the trip to the doctor’s office.

X-rays showed nothing was broken, but the arthritic damage was badly aggravated. The doctor prescribed painkillers and a soft knee brace, which Jack picked up at the pharmacy on the way home. He wondered aloud how we were going to get me into the house without help—two aides had assisted me in and out of the doctor’s office. While I was still in the car, we opened the knee brace and managed it to get it on. With my knee braced and with Jack’s help, I made it into the house though the pain was severe. I stayed in a recliner most of the next couple of weeks except when Jack helped me to the bathroom or to the table for a meal he prepared. Even that little bit of walking irritated my “bad” left knee so Jack got a brace for it also. I did manage to get to my office to let my readers know I wouldn’t be around much.

Nearly two weeks later, I was moving around enough with a walker to go to church. Father Chip did a “first aid” prayer after the service. On the next Wednesday, he did healing prayer after Evensong. Although no one has ever told me my legs weren’t even, Father Chip held my legs out in front of me and pointed out that the left leg was shorter. He prayed, commanding the left leg to become even with the right … and I and the intercessors praying with us saw the leg stretch until it was even with the right leg. The only thing I felt was heat from Father Chip’s hands. Every time he has done healing prayer for me, wherever he lays his hands becomes hot.

After Father Chip finished praying and anointed me with oil, I moved from the chair I’d been sitting in to a pew.

When I expressed amazement that I could bend my right knee, Father Chip responded, “Why are you surprised?”

Why, indeed? God has granted me so many healings that I should expect miracles. I do expect miracles … but I will never cease to be amazed, awed, and grateful for every miracle of God.

Small Press Month

In addition to this week being Read an E-Book Week, the entire month of March is Small Press Month.

Although e-books don’t necessarily come from small presses, many do. In the early days of e-publishing, the large, traditional publishers didn’t publish books electronically. Most large publishers didn’t show much respect for the new publishing method, having the attitude that only print books were real books.

Even print books from independent publishers (small presses and self-publishers) have often been considered to be something less than real books.

Small Press Month was created to honor independent publishers and introduce readers to the quality and diversity of books published by small presses.

Since an  individual or small company can set up an independent publishing business with a relatively small investment, not all published books are equal in quality. However, small publishers who take their business seriously can and do produce books equal in quality to those produced by large, mainstream publishers.

Independent publishers can often be more flexible than their mega-conglomerate counterparts. Acquisitions decisions in large companies are based on expected sales and return on investment. Small publishers are more apt to take a chance on a unproven author or an unusual storyline. They can be less strict about the exact number of words in a book or the sell-through history of a previously published author.

To writers, that means more opportunities to have their out-of-the-ordinary stories published.

To  readers, it means more opportunities to find new and unique voices.

Oh, those big publishers that thought e-books weren’t real books? Most of them are now publishing books electronically. They’ve discovered that there is a growing demand for books that can be delivered immediately at lower prices, books that don’t take up valuable space in crowded apartments, books that don’t fill up the landfills.

Small presses pioneered e-books, and now the mega-corporations are reaping sales from the seeds planted and nurtured by independent publishers.

Not all small presses publish the same way. Some publish print books only; some publish e-books only; some publish both. Many specialize in niches too small to be of interest to the large publishers. 

Several of my clients exemplify the greatness of small presses. I’ll give you two examples:

• Grace Anne Schaefer writes The People of the Frozen Earth series about prehistoric Indians. Although many things about the civilization of native people two thousand years ago remain a mystery, Grace Anne has been careful to use the information that is available and avoid writing anything that doesn’t fit with what is known. In spite of the success of Jean Auel’s books, traditional publishers aren’t especially interested in books set in this time period. Grace Anne knew her readership would come from people interested in Indian culture and history, so she and her husband formed GASLight Publishing, LLC and are self-publishing her books. They sell books primarily at Indian pow-wows. Recently Grace Anne got a comment on her blog from a reader who was amazed the books were self-published because they were as professionally written, edited, and published as any book the reader had seen from a traditional publisher.
• David Bowles writes The Westward Sagas historical novels. The books are stories about his family, and everything is consistent with known history and genealogy. David does extensive research to ensure that his facts are correct and fills in the gaps with his imagination. His target audience is the 10,000+ descendants of the ancestor who is the hero of the first book in the series. While that is too narrow and small a niche for a mainstream publisher, it is ideal for an independent publisher. David publishes his books through Plum Creek Press, Inc.  and has received awards and outstanding reviews for his work. Although some buyers of his books are readers interested in history and genealogy, most come from his target group of family and descendants of other real people who are characters in the book.

You may not be interested in prehistoric Indians or the history and genealogy of an American Revolution patriot. Whatever your interest, though, you can probably find excellent books from independent publishers on the topic.

Sherman Alexie, the public face of Small Press Month, says:

The small presses represent what is most brave, crazy and beautiful about our country and our literature. So let us all sing honor songs for the independent publishers.

Don’t forget to request your free e-book from me, and check out the other Read an E-Book Week partners for more free books and special offers.

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