A Whole Nother Life

Jocelyn Delores Winn

Description

Can life be better? Let this modern day parable inspire you to live “your best life now” and forever.
Gabriel pondered these questions as he sat in his favorite recliner. After mentally exhausting himself, he prayed for answers and then fell into a deep sleep. He began to dream that he was fishing in a dirty and odorous lake. He saw some people fishing and some were swimming, laughing and dunking themselves in and out of this lake. He noticed the fish were not taking the bait as they appeared sickly and lifeless, floating on the surface of the lake. He then saw the people that were swimming begin to eat the diseased fish. Some were throwing their hands up in the air as they were drowning. Some were vomiting up volcanic lava. They were crying and yelling for help. Gabriel wanted to help. Leon, disguised as an angel, grabbed Gabriel’s hand and said “Gabe you can’t help them because they’re dying and they will drown you anyway.” With an angelic face, Leon led him to a humongous house that looked like a museum inside. There were demonic looking sculptures, artifacts, paintings and portraits. There were numerous rooms with different displays. Each room they went into had less lighting than the room before it, until Gabriel could not see anything. He called out several times to Leon but there was no answer. He tried to get out of the room but he could not see or find an exit. He reached for his cell phone to call for help. He could not get a signal, but he hears the voice.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Living
• Inspirational
• Philosophie et théologie
• God
• Self-concept
• Parable
• Salvation
• Faith
• Salut (religion)
• Love
• Sin
• Transformation

Informations

• Publié par: LifeRich Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781489744036
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A Whole Nother Life
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jocelyn Delores Winn
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Jocelyn Delores Winn.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.
 
 
LifeRich Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.liferichpublishing.com
844-686-9607
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-4897-4402-9 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4897-4401-2 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4897-4403-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916958
 
 
LifeRich Publishing rev. date:  11/14/2022
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1       Have You Met Her?
Chapter 2       Meet Him
Chapter 3       The Shirt off His Back
Chapter 4       He Loves
Chapter 5       Her Betrayal
Chapter 6       He Hates
Chapter 7       His Temptation
Chapter 8       He Lives
Chapter 9       Her Demons
Chapter 10     Their Confessions
Chapter 11     He Saves
Chapter 12     Their Choices
Chapter 13     He Transforms
Chapter 14     The Transformation
 
Epilogue
A Prayer for Salvation
Bible Scriptures
Information and Resources
 
God doesn’t change reality to fit us. He changes us to fit reality.
—Karla Faye Tucker
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my mom, the first person to introduce me to the creator God. She gave me my first Bible when I was five. Mom was my first encounter with a true missionary.
To a special classmate from my middle school years who touched my life after sharing the gospel message with me—just before algebra class—and gave me a paperback entitled The Living B ible.
To the two most influential Sunday school teachers in my life who guided me in the faith.
Last, to the notable individual who inspired me and many others worldwide for Christ.
Most important, I thank the Lord God, the author and finisher of my faith.
CHAPTER 1

Have You Met Her?
J ayla had been born into a chaotic household. Her mom and dad were very young and immature believers who professed a belief in Christ. They attended church off and on but did go to Christmas and Easter services.
Jayla’s father was a heavy drinker and a compulsive gambler. Many times, he would be verbally and physically abusive toward his wife, Jayla’s mom, though he rarely harmed Jayla or her siblings. Nevertheless, the toxic emotions had a deep, soul-reaching impact on her.
Her family struggled to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Her parents had one final violent outburst that led to Jayla’s father packing his duffle bag and storming out of the house without uttering a word. Jayla and her family never saw or heard from him again.
Her mom took on several jobs to support the family, but it proved to be too little too late. Several months after her father abandoned the family, Jayla’s mom lost their home due to her inability to make the mortgage payments.
Her mom knew people from the church including the pastor who would have been very supportive of her considering her circumstances, but shame and pride kept her from asking for financial help, and the family ended up homeless.
It was a confusing time for Jayla, who believed that her father and God were supposed to come through for the family, but both seemed to have abandoned ship. Jayla, her four siblings, and her mom stayed with various family members and friends and occasionally in shelters. In the midst of her family’s crisis, Jayla was sexually molested by a family member and twice more at the places they had stayed. These traumatic experiences caused her to question God’s existence; she blamed her father for all the bad things that had happened to her and her mother for not asking for help.
Jayla, the oldest, was just a junior in high school, but she felt a sense of responsibility when it came to helping support her family. She wanted to find a job as well as continue her schooling. She had been graced with a talent in art and artistic design. Due to the family’s instability, she had attended several high schools but always chose art-related programs in addition to the general curriculum. She loved school and learning even though she had been forced to attend different schools.
Some years later, she became a graphic designer and worked for several companies as a temp. She earned enough to help her mom with living expenses. Her mom eventually sought financial and spiritual help from a friend of the family. Jayla, however, was haunted by her past and continued to harbor hostility in her heart toward her father. She has made several bad choices that had resulted in an unwanted pregnancy followed by a forced abortion. She was sexually promiscuous and got involved in toxic relationships, and she started abusing alcohol. Earlier, she had questioned God’s existence, but at that time, she believed he was just a cold and uncaring God with whom she wanted no association.
But she felt some success in her graphic artist career. She was eventually offered a full-time position with a well-known company, Agape Graphics & Design, and she excitedly accepted the offer. Although she felt that her experiences had taught her to trust only herself and to look out for herself because no one else could or would, she remained troubled by her past and plagued with many questions for which she could not find answers.
In spite of her personal and emotional issues, Jayla excelled in her job. The company chose her as employee of the year and gave her a promotion. Many of her colleagues admired her work and talent. She had made friends with a number of her coworkers, and she had a few casual acquaintances with whom she shared project ideas with. There was one acquaintance in the company in particular whose designs Jayla greatly admired. His name was Gabriel.
CHAPTER 2

Meet Him
G abriel had been born into a family that valued education above all else. His parents were overachievers; his mother had PhDs in science and psychology and was a professor and dean at a private college. His father had a PhD in engineering and was the CEO of a major company.
As a child, Gabriel had been under tremendous pressure to be super intelligent, an achiever, and most of all perfect. His parents sent him to expensive private schools to keep up with what their friends and neighbors were doing with their children. He learned early on that getting good grades, receiving awards, and winning competitions were ways to earn his parents’ attention; he often felt accepted by them for that but not loved.
His mom was a people pleaser who hosted club events and parties in an attempt to make a social name for herself, but Gabriel felt extremely uncomfortable and devalued when she would make sure he was properly groomed and dressed for her events as if he were a trophy to be polished. She taught him to speak only when spoken to and to be well versed on certain topics of conversation. “Reputation is everything! Without a reputation, you have nothing in life,” she would often tell him.
Ironically, Gabriel actually looked forward to his mother’s parties because they were the only times he could shine in the company of his parents and others; he desperately craved their attention. His mom would brag endlessly to her guests about his academic successes and accomplishments, and the guests would be amused and fascinated by Gabriel. Being the center of such attention would put pressure on any young boy, but Gabriel always basked in these moments of glory, times when he felt accepted and maybe even loved.
In public, Gabriel’s parents would impress others with their seemingly perfect and loving relationship, but that was far from reality. Once the parties were over and the guests were gone, he was left with two squabbling adults who would bicker intensely about past conversations, about how and who said what. After they exchanged several curses and a few verbal punches, his mother would abruptly leave the room.
After having saturated himself with liquor, his father would keep ranting and raving while using Gabriel as his therapist. Gabriel would stand or sit awkwardly and quietly so as not to trigger a firing squad. His father would make hurtful insinuations about Gabriel not being his real son. In slurred speech, he would repeatedly tell Gabriel, “You’re a fatherless boy … That’s what you are!” Gabriel would begin to cry, but his father would laugh and say, “Oh stop your whimpering, boy! It’s not your fault that your mother was a loose woman who slept with any guy with a fat bank account.”
The barrage of insults would continue until his father would fall into a deep stupor or his mom would return and tell Gabriel to get ready for bed. Naturally, Gabriel had mixed feelings for his parents that ranged from intense bitterness and resentment to love.
When he became a young adult, Gabriel decided to sever much of the emotional and financial ties h