I woke up this morning and looked at the frost covering my window to the sky. Yes, it was and still is cold, but I slept in a warm bed. Sleeping in a warm bed is one of the simple things in life that stirs up gratitude in my heart. It helps me realize that I live, breathe, and get everything I need from somebody much bigger than I, as Paul states in Acts, Chapter 17, verse 24, New International Version (NIV).
Over 2024, I sometimes forgot Him. Due to various problems that confronted me, I saw these problems as impossible to solve. My vision had to be corrected so that I could see Him working in my life for my good. He showed me what I didn’t see.
My faith is what keeps me walking out my journey. I trust in God who has given me purpose, even when I sometimes don’t understand what He’s doing. He’s always working all things out for my good.
As I look back over this year, I thank all of you who have read my short stories, especially my latest, THE POWER OF TOUCH. Thank you for your reviews and, most of all, for being readers who appreciate multicultural stories that present the different perspectives of living among the varied cultures we have in the world.
Truly, I am thankful.
Have a safe crossover into 2025, be safe, and rejoice because life is worth living.
The Power of Touch is a multicultural/interracial short story. The story centers around Aniyah, an African-American woman who finally leaves the orphanage she is raised in and moves to Cologne, a city in Germany, where she has the opportunity to study at the University about the effects of music on people who are deaf.
She has finally finished her studies successfully and is waiting at the train station to catch her train when she sees a man walking into the same train station, and she feels that he wants to hurt himself.
The Power Of Touch is a love story that transcends barriers and brings hope to people who have given up on life.
Book Cover by Olga Godim
Blurb:
Stationed within an International Explosive Ordinance Team (EOD) in Germany for six years, Gianluca Abate has never anticipated that unexpected incidences could throw his life off balance. He didn’t think there was a situation that could touch him so closely until the day he experienced an explosive blast underwater. His life spirals downward, and he loses all hope of ever being normal again. At a train station, he is waiting for a train to come to end it all and is so involved in what he is about to carry out that he doesn’t see the woman running toward him who is about to change the trajectory of his destiny forever.
EXCERPT: Aniyah paused before the sizeable glassed-in train terminal, observing the people who crossed the pedestrian walk to enter. As always, she forgot to eat her ice cream as she watched the people, and it melted and streamed like a tiny river over her cone.
She licked her cone enthusiastically, trying to catch the drips before they reached her hand. She painted pictures of everyone crossing the path as she licked. She loved that she could look out from the second level of the modernized station. People fascinated her, and she dissected the world they were living in by contemplating the emotions she saw written on their faces, especially in their eyes. Her gaze went to a man with wavy black hair. He walked stiffly as if he were a robot. He lifted his head suddenly and glanced straight up into her eyes. Aniyah discerned a hopeless look she had seen many times from children in the orphanage who had hoped to be adopted but never were. By their eyes, she could tell when they had given up. Some let life pull them along and got more bitter daily; others gave up entirely and left the world forever. She lost sight of the man when he walked under the canopy that led to the entrance below, but something wasn’t right about him.
You may find the paperback and Kindle versions on all Amazon Outlets worldwide (amazon.com)
Shalom shalom
Pat Garcia
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This week has started out with surprises. I woke up Monday morning lying in bed, talking to God; my mobile rang. It was my sister and her husband from Tennessee. To say it was nice hearing their voices at 6:45 in the morning is an understatement. Their phone call showered me with love, and I lay there thanking God for my family. As we were talking, my doorbell rang.
Who could be ringing my doorbell at 6:55 in the morning?
I thought I was hearing things. When I ended my call, the doorbell rang again. I jumped out of my bed to run down the stairs to see who it was, and a man was standing before my door with work clothes on.
The first thing I did was to calm down because I was sure he had the wrong house.
When I tipped my door open, I said, “Yes, may I help you?”
“We’ve come to repair the damage in your basement,” he answered.
I didn’t roll my eyes or ask him if he knew what time it was or say I didn’t know they were coming and that no one had notified me. I just told him to wait a minute, and I would go downstairs and let them in.
Then I ran upstairs thinking, “God, you sure know how to surprise me.
This was God’s gift and way of showing me He’s got humor.
So, I quickly dressed and canceled breakfast with a dear friend I treasured very much. I went downstairs to let the men in my basement so they could repair my office.
Some of you know that my office is in my basement. I have been out of it since May 2nd of this year because of the floods we had in my area. I had fallen into deep despair because my office is where I write. The world that I’ve built for the characters I write for is in my office, and I love it.
I will be able to move back into it over the weekend. To say that I am thankful is again an understatement, so I’ll say that God is good, and my heart is filled with gratitude to see a new year. Without God, I am nothing.
Many thanks to all of you who reached out to me on the first day of my new year. All of you are so amazing, and I will do my best as a writer, or whatever else I am called to be, to be true to the One who knows all and is overall and created all and to keep finding God’s life for my will. To God be the glory, Amen.
I woke up this morning with expectancy. Usually, I only look at my iPhone to see the messages and emails I receive after eleven, but this morning was particular, and I did. I have taken a small step in my writing and publishing career. My first paperback, THE POWER OF TOUCH, came out as a paperback and is on Amazon Worldwide.
I read the announcement I received from Amazon, telling me it was up, and I wept tears of joy and spoke soft words of thankfulness. No one knows how difficult it was for me to overcome the fears within me except those close to me and the ONE who watches over me night and day.
Stationed within an International Explosive Ordinance Team (EOD) in Germany for six years, Gianluca Abate has never anticipated that unexpected incidences could throw his life off balance. He didn’t think there was a situation that could touch him so closely until the day he experienced an explosive blast underwater. His life spirals downward, and he loses all hope of ever being normal again. At a train station, he is waiting for a train to come to end it all and is so involved in what he is about to carry out that he doesn’t see the woman running toward him who is about to change the trajectory of his destiny forever.
Good Morning, Everyone, I received the official notice today about winning the 2nd RRBC “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge. I send all of you a heartfelt thanks for following me during March and cheering me on. By the way, here is a picture of Hadessah. She has a beautiful green glow and has a baby shoot at the top of her head.
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1Thessalonians 5:17, English Standard Version
I am in a dilemma at the moment. Things are happening around me that I don’t understand. It could be that I am just coming off of a 30-Day Blogging Challenge with the Rave Reviews Book Club, and I have become sensitive, or I am tired.
It is at times when I have gone beyond my energy supply and I am running on reserved strength that gratitude is not an easy path for me to walk. It means taking my anger, frustration, disappointment, annoyance, or whatever I might be feeling and taking a stroll down memory lane to look at some of the good things I have experienced, like the successful completion of the RRBC 30-Day Blogging Challenge. Or it might be just peering at my garden and noticing that Daniel and Joshua, my cherry trees, have blossomed since yesterday.
I cannot stop the things that bring upheaval into my life. Most of the time, such incidents catch me on my blindside. But I can choose how I react to them. The choice is always mine. I have learned that this is how I reinforce my vision. As one of my favorite mentors, Viktor Frankel, said in Man In Search Of Meaning, at the beginning of his book, “detachment is granted to the outsider, but he is too far removed to make any statements of real value. (Frankel was writing about his time in the concentration camp.) Only the man inside knows. His judgments may not be objective; his evaluations may be out of proportion. This is inevitable. But an attempt must be made to avoid any personal bias.”
Therefore, the strength within me gives me the willpower to detach myself from my emotions and see anything coming at me differently. Thus, as I beheld Daniel and Joshua, my sentiments slowly turned to a deep sense of thankfulness, and my heart was amazed again at God’s faithfulness to me. Truly, I am thankful.
The time has come. The 2nd Annual RRBC “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge is closing its gate. It has given me the time I needed to contemplate, to exhume things I had buried and forgot about, peep through doors that are daring me to open and take steps toward them, and to bury those situations that needed to be buried so that I may live. And it has indeed been a challenge in that it has reinforced those things I believe in.
Faith is the substance of things I hope for, the evidence of things not seen, but I’ll never hope for them if I don’t step out, leave the gate, and start walking that path. Another thing I know is when I close the door to this gate; I won’t be able to open it again. It disappears, and I must choose to stand still or continue walking out the purpose designed for my life.
The front side of my home. The birds have built a bird nest in the tree by house. My office is in the basement where the tiny window is below.
Very few people tell us that our destiny is a collection of decisions. None mention that it is OK to make mistakes either. You lose when you don’t know the sting of rejection, or the loss of a loved one through death or divorce, or the burden of trying to overcome financial oppression or an illness in your body. To experience undefeatable joy, you will encounter such paths and discover what makes you grow. It is the fertilizer for your soul.
It’s been a pleasure working beside colleagues who participated in this challenge and to get to know them better than I have known them before. In some of their posts, I cried; in others, I laughed; and in others, I said, OK, that’s their way of thinking, and I accepted it. I don’t have to agree with their opinions to respect them.
Thank you to everyone who has been by my blog and left a comment. I really appreciate that. I heard from writers I hadn’t heard from in a long time, and it brought joy to my heart to know they were still writing.
Thanks to all the writers who make it a point to attend the RNH (Raters Not Haters) Zoom Show I co-host with John Podlaski. You have been following me daily, which has motivated me immensely.
Lydia has been blossoming since Wednesday or Thursday.
Thank you to that person who has been pingbacking me. I appreciate every pingback I receive. The pingbacks were a tremendous boost because someone put my writing out there. I smiled each time I saw one.
Thanks to all the new followers that I have received on Facebook and Instagram. I will respond to those comments on my Facebook Author Page and Instagram. I only got the chance to respond to some of the comments on my blog. I will finish as many as I can today.
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and I will go to church, say hello to a few people, return home, sit in my home, and enjoy the peace and quiet I receive for being in the right place at the right time.
White Eagle, my VW Beetle
In closing, I have taken pictures of the front part of my house with its garden this morning. A bird’s nest is in the tree beside the house. Lydia has blossomed in my backyard, and White Eagle, my VW Beetle, is nesting in its parking space beside my home.
Take care, everyone. Remember that Easter deals with the resurrection and not only Easter eggs, and walk safely through the rest of the year.
DAY 29, MARCH 29, 2024, THANK GOD, IT’S GOOD FRIDAY!
Good Morning, Everyone,
I contemplated how it must have been for Jesus when he knew his time was up. I don’t believe he said, “Father, get me out of here as soon as you can. According to the Gospel written by Matthew, in the garden of Gethsemane, he pleaded with God as he asked Him if there was any other way to do what he had to do besides going on the cross.
He knew the disciples weren’t ready for him to leave the earth. They were still looking for him to gather an army to defeat the Romans. However, when I look at Jesus’s prophetic words to them, I see they had no clue that that night would be the night that destroyed their dreams of overcoming the Roman Empire and would throw them into a state of perplexity.
Jesus knew this would happen, and like the loving Lord that He is, He asked God for more time, which was denied. I look at Jesus’s prophetic words, “One of you will betray me,” or as he told Peter, “Before rooster crows, you will have disowned me three times.” Peter’s vehement declaration was that he was willing to die for him.
I am astonished at how many times I unknowingly or knowingly disowned Jesus, the power of what He did on the cross, and the power of His resurrection. And by the way, all the disciples agreed, like Peter, that they would die for Jesus too, except one, ––Judas, who had gone off to complete his task to betray him. None of them were aware of what would happen.
And so was it with my own life in the beginning. If you had asked me some years ago, I would have said that a walk of faith is like a sprint. After you have won three or four of them, you could retire and live off of what you have accomplished.
But the faith walk is different. It is a complicated process: walk, run, stumble, run, stumble, walk, filled with your purpose.
You start out walking. The day is sunny and bright, only to come upon dark clouds that douse you in the rain. There is no shelter to hide in, so you keep walking and notice ahead the sun is shining again, and you start running only to realize the more that you run toward the end, the farther away it is, and because you’re running, you don’t take a look at the path, and you stumble and fall. You lay there wondering what to do. You’re perplexed.
However, like the disciples, we have a loving Lord who looks after us. He picks us up. And like with Peter and the gang, He showed up right on time at the sea of Galilee. He fed them, reinstated Peter, and showed them what to do next.
This is why I love Good Friday. Jesus paid my debt entirely, and now I walk out my purpose daily, knowing that I am cleansed, healed, justified, redeemed, and sanctified by the lamb’s blood, which was Jesus going to the cross. He was the sacrificial lamb, and on the third day, He rose.
He would have been limited in time and space if He had not gone to the cross. Now, He’s everywhere.
Thank God! It’s Good Friday.
Nina Simone’s daughter singing one of my favorite songs.
DAY 28, MARCH 28, 2024, FRIENDSHIP, FOOD, & KITCHEN
Good Morning, Everyone,
I have said a lot during the Blogging Challenge, and as I thought about the situations and things I’ve shared, some of you reading my blog entries might think I am perfect or have it all together. Well, I am far from perfect, and I definitely don’t have it altogether. If I didn’t have people who are like family watching out for me, I wouldn’t be where I am today. People, like my sister and her husband, talk to me often on Zoom. They live in Louisville, Tennessee. The first question they ask is not how I am but whether I have eaten in the past two days. They scrutinize me on their screen as if they can tell whether I’ve eaten. I call this friendship and sisterhood/brotherhood combined.
Me, eating Thanksgiving Dinner in 2023. Elke Schaffrath sitting opposite me at Thanksgiving with friends we both know. Elke is in my sisterhood/brotherhood family.
Another couple watches over me, but they live closer to me than my sister in Tennessee. They come from Romania and live about twelve or fourteen kilometers from where I live in Germany. They don’t call me on Zoom; they show up.
I am one of those writers who forget about eating when I sink into my story. Thus, writing until I have finished the first draft and skipped two or three meals is expected. This couple feels that. My doorbell rings, and there they are with a delicious three-course home-cooked meal. Again, I call this sisterhood/brotherhood wrapped into friendship.
Here’s a good look at my kitchen. It is small, but just right for me.
I would be lost without these people and four or five other people I know who have adopted me into their hearts. They care, love, and have studied me enough to know my habits. I don’t have to pretend to them. My life has become an open book, and I trust them.
We all need three or four friendships like these. You don’t need to have everybody you relate to become your friends on this level. But you do need the kind where you don’t have to watch what you say because if you don’t, they won’t understand. You need friendships that feel like they are your family. I am blessed to say that the people who are close to me and in my inner circle come out of different countries, from South Africa, Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the USA, and they know me.
Today, I have a three-course meal for dinner. You guessed it. My dear Romanian family brought it over yesterday. The dessert is Tiramisu, my favorite Italian dessert.
Idiko’s Tiramisu is simply delicious.
So, I have learned that perfectionism doesn’t cut it. It doesn’t bring closeness. It is the willingness to show your vulnerabilities, to laugh at your mistakes, to be able to say I’m sorry even if you’re hurt, to walk away from an argument instead of walking into one, to stand firm and loyal to the people you commit to even though you don’t understand what the other is doing. These are the elements that build bridges instead of walls.
In closing, I added a few pictures of my kitchen to this post. As you can see, it is small but my tiny jewel. When my friends come over, we always have a meal together. While they cook, I write.
