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Hot Off the Press!

Do you hear that phrase anymore? Newsboys once stood on the corner and shouted that phrase as they sold copies of the latest news.

This day and time, we receive our updates from the Internet or TV. Newspaper sales are down, but I like the urgency in the message.

My book is here! It’s straight from the press, and I am shouting loud and clear so you can know about it.

Sarah and a Texas Christmas first appeared in eBook format under the title, Sarah and the Cowboy’s Lady.  That was many sleeps ago. Too many to count, so I decided to update this book and publish it under my pseudonym. G. N. Lewis.

Why change names, you ask?

Well, it is a long story.  With my first contract, my publisher tried to place my book, Sarah and a Mission of Love, on Amazon, but they wouldn’t accept it. The publisher came back to me and said my name, “Gay” wasn’t acceptable due to the morals at the time.

Well, okay, then, let’s put my middle initial in there and see what happens. So Gay N. Lewis became my author name, and Amazon accepted it. Yay!

Fast forward to today’s world. Behaviors have changed, and what was once unacceptable is acceptable.

Problem? My books with the name Gay N. Lewis became lost among the Gay Pride novels and literature.  If you found them at all, you might have to look through a list of titles that you hadn’t planned to see.

I thought about a pen name. How about Gabby Lewis?  Gigi Lewis? LeAnn Lewis? Lynn Lewis? Louie Lewis? Nella Lewis?

Nothing seemed right, so I decided on initials. Clive Staples Lewis used his initials, C. S., and became known to the world as C. S. Lewis.  If they worked for him, why couldn’t G. N. Lewis work for me?

Sarah, my dyslexic angel, is a delight in this book. Sarah arrives on Earth to help Emily. Emily is jilted by her fiancée, and when a police officer issues a restraint order to Emily, a disgusted Sarah kicks him in his posterior.

Sarah disguises herself as an eccentric, human senior citizen and wings her way into Emily’s life. They leave Dallas, headed for Austin, but get caught in a bizarre Texas snowstorm. The two, one angel and one human, get stranded. Now, Sarah, of course, can vanish and fly off to Timbuctoo, but Emily can’t. Sarah must find a handsome, rich, Texas cowboy to rescue Emily.

Where does she find one?  Well, don’t you know, Texas is full of them, and Sarah picks one up from the Get and Go Convenient store.

This story is full of laughs and good feelings.

 I wanted the cover to feature a Christmas tree in the middle of a field of Texas Bluebonnets. The story takes place at Christmas, but the wedding occurs in the Bluebonnet spring of Texas.  Once her mission is complete, Sarah is allowed to see into the future and she actually sees Emily and Josiah marry in the Texas field of Bluebonnets and Christmas trees.

The designer couldn’t pull that off, but I like this cover. I think you’ll love the book.

 Sarah and a Texas Christmas

 

 

Thankful after Thanksgiving

 

The Friday After Thanksgiving.

 Are you stuffed with turkey and trimmings? You may never need another bite of food, right? Are you trying to recover from overload?

Yeah, me too.

We had two at the table yesterday, my husband, Paul, and me. I didn’t cook, but we found a Saltgrass restaurant near us and enjoyed too much food.  We had no dessert. Boo! I love Lemon Ice Box Pie, and it is easy to make, but I failed to create one, and we didn’t indulge in the sugary offerings at the restaurant.

We were impressed with the lady who attended our table, and I’d like to share her story with you. We wished her a happy Thanksgiving, and then she volunteered her story.

She arrived in Houston four months ago from Cuba. Her entire family came legally to America, and she told us how grateful she is to live here. Her name is Helen, and she and the family waited a long time to come. She was excited to spend her first Thanksgiving in America, and she doesn’t take the privilege for granted.  She said, “Young people who haven’t lived in other countries don’t understand what they have in America.”

After we left the restaurant, we drove to the memory care facility where our daughter, Shelley resides. In times past, we brought her to our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but those days are over.  She’s too feeble now.

Her medical aide, Ajuan, was taking care of her. He managed to get her up to walk around for a bit, and we were happy to see her out of the wheelchair.

Ajuan is from Egypt, and he was a doctor in his country. He now works as a medical aid while he takes US courses for accreditation. He arrived in Houston nine months ago, and he spoke no English, but he is a whiz at English now.

I asked him why he left Egypt. “Too many wars in and around my country,” he said.  And then he went on to tell us how grateful he is to reside in America. His words mimicked the conversation we had at the restaurant with the female server.

I suspect if more Americans had lived in other countries like Helen or Ajuan, we would have more rallies cheering the goodness in America rather than multiple protests for her flaws.

        Sarah and a Texas Christmas

Protect or Abort the Unborn?

 

To Protect or Not?

Elections across America were held during the month of November 2023. Where abortion was on the ballot, it appears abortion won in most cases. People, especially women, voted for freedom to choose what they do with a pregnancy.

Humanity has been debating whether to kill an unborn child or not since life began.

“What?” I hear you say? “That can’t be correct.”

Exodus 21:22-23 says if a man causes a woman with a child to miscarry, he must pay a financial fine. If the lady experiences lasting harm, the man can receive the death penalty. “Life for life.”

Pro-life Christians cite several Biblical passages for the sanctity of life.

1.    At creation, God formed man in His image. The sixth Commandment says, “Thou shalt not kill.” Exodus 20:13 KJV.

 

2.    In Psalm 139 NIV, King David writes:

 

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

 

Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the Apostle Paul are among those who claim they were called by God before birth for the tasks they undertook in life.

Midwives were used in Bible days to deliver babies, and secular history tells us they also helped with abortions. These assistants used herbs, sharp tools, or bloodletting to speed the miscarriage process. They might have the patient jump up and down or lift heavy burdens.

Such methods were used for centuries, but let’s fast forward to the 1800s. Before 1821, getting an abortion was relatively easy, and less thought was given to it. Large families were common, and abortion was a birth control method.

By1850 the average woman had six to nine children. They didn’t want more kids underfoot, but the ladies had to undergo brutal methods to rid themselves of an unwanted pregnancy. They were given cocktails that could kill them, or brutal instruments were used that might cause death.

All 38 states adopted laws restricting abortion in 1850, but most states had exceptions. If a woman’s life wasn’t in jeopardy due to pregnancy, she most likely had to abort secretly.

Then came 1873 and Congress passed a law.  Guess what? If you sold contraceptives, you committed a crime.

Family size remained a huge problem. Women continued to circumvent laws and subject themselves to possible death as they aborted a child.

Fast forward to 1916. Margaret Sanger opened the first clinic for birth control. Her efforts led to the modern Planned Parenthood clinics.

Roe V. Wade changed everything. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the 14^th Amendment protected abortion. Abortion became a legal birth control method.

In 2022, The Supreme Court overturned the earlier Roe V. Wade decision. No longer would women have the protected, federal right to an abortion. The decision leaves abortion laws to the states. Each state makes its own law.

Women across the land can have abortions. If the state where they live passes laws to prevent abortion, they can travel across state lines to a state that accommodates them.

Each state decides on a cutoff date for abortion, but a few citizens across the land prefer abortion after birth. Is it acceptable to deliver a healthy baby, and then kill it, all the while calling it abortion? Texas law prohibits abortion after 6 weeks (with exceptions). That’s when a heartbeat can be detected. If life ends with a heartbeat, doesn’t it also begin with one?  Virginians failed to accept a law to ban abortion (with exceptions) after 15 weeks. The unborn feels pain at 15 weeks. Is it okay for the baby to experience the shock and agony of being torn apart? Some states, like Oregon, allow abortion up to the ninth month.

I find it incongruous how many people have more compassion for the discomfort of an animal than they do for the pain of the unborn child. Are our views upside down?

I am pro-life, but I understand abortion is sometimes necessary. In my opinion, lawmakers should leave the abortion issue alone. I wish they would busy themselves with other matters like inflation, The National debt, and border security. Leave the issue of abortion alone. Give it a rest.

Whether planned or accidental, for most women, the loss of a child produces a horrendous sadness. As I face the loss of a daughter who grows sicker each day with early-onset dementia, I realize the measure of this grief.

If I had known what lay ahead for her at this date, would I have aborted her to spare her this unbearable disease? Would I rob her of the delights she had in life before her illness? Should I have robbed myself of the joys of being her mom? Fortunately, I didn’t know the future, and I didn’t know the agony of making such a choice.

Should humanity condone abortion? Allow it willy-nilly? I pose questions I have no answer for. The debate seems to have started shortly after the Garden of Eden days, and I suspect it will continue until the end of time. 

Gay's Author Page

"If you Can"

 

Your Will Be Done

Mark Chapter 9 NIV

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

 

Can you imagine telling the Lord, “If you can?”  And Jesus responds with a touch of humor when He says, “If you can?” This is a priceless Scripture. Jesus knows He can do all things, but the guy asking the question doesn’t.

 

I love this verse, and I pray: “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.”

I’ve never doubted the Lord’s ability to do anything. My word! Look at the amazing Creation!

However, I now add the prayer “if you are willing.” In Matthew’s Gospel, we find this verse:

 

Matthew 8:2 NIV

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

I believe without doubt that God can do any and everything. Will He do it for me? Do I have enough faith? Sometimes yes, but often, no.

I am learning to ask: “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, and if You are willing, do this for me.”

After all, whose determination is best for me? His or mine?  And get this! Jesus prayed for God’s will in one of His last talks with the Father.

In the garden, before his arrest, Jesus prayed: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” NIV Matthew 23:39

Aren’t you happy God honored His will, even if it meant rejecting His only Son’s request? Because of God’s denial to take the cup away from Jesus, we can be in God’s family.

God’s will is far better than ours.