Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Stones That Built Me Strong – New Book Alert!!!

Hello World,

As I’ve said before in previous posts, summertime is the best time to catch up on your reading…Over the past few weeks, I’ve featured fiction books so today I thought I would feature a non fiction selection…Presenting The Stones That Built Me Strong: Turn Hurtful Stones from Your Past Into Stepping Stones for Success! by Alissa R. Jones…

Are you holding on to something you need to let go of?

Have you ever felt like all the odds are against you to succeed?

Have you ever felt like you fell in love with the wrong person?

I came up against these questions at life’s most trying moments. For many years, I was silenced by fear and suppressed the bad memories of my childhood. At the age of 11, I was abused by a man my mother let rent a room in our home. I discovered my dad I’ve known for 13 years wasn’t my dad biologically. I looked for love in the wrong places, trying to fill the void of all the things important to me being taken and leaving me hopeless.

When we don’t deal with our past it can’t be healed. I made a choice to marry a man for the wrong reasons. In hopes of holding on to him, I continued to lose myself in the process and deal with situations I should not have.

With each stone thrown at me, I have come to know peace, understanding and forgiveness through turning to God. After turning to God, I learned that what was once a negative and a hurtful stone can turn into a positive one. I realized sometimes God places these obstacles and trials before us to humble us, and prepare us for what He truly has in store for us.

The Stones That Built Me Strong: Turn Hurtful Stones from Your Past Into Stepping Stones for Success! is available on Amazon.

About The Author:

Alissa R. Jones is an author, motivational speaker, project director, woman of God and the list goes on…But most of all, she is a survivor. She is the Founder and Director of S.W.V., Survivors with Voices Foundation with a mission to help survivors embrace seen and unseen scars, find a voice, and heal. S.W.V. provides an outlet in which their voices may be heard. Alissa R. Jones was born and raised out of Springfield, Ohio. She currently resides in Houston, Texas with her husband Robbin A. Jones and their children. For more information, visit the author online at survivorswithvoices.com.

Posted on Sunday, June 8, 2014

A Sudanese Woman Awaits Appeal of Death Sentence for Her Christian Faith…

Hello World,

What are we willing to sacrifice for our faith? As I know that mostly Americans read my blog, I would imagine that most of you, most of us, very rarely if at all, consider true sacrifice as a part of our faith unless it’s Easter. By true sacrifice, I mean giving up something that is very costly, such our lives even, because we profess to be Christians…

However, in other countries that don’t ensure religious freedom, Christians must live in the tension of having faith in God while knowing they may be forced to give up their very lives because of their faith…

Such is the case for 27-year-old Mariam Yehya Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman who has been sentenced to death for refusing to reject her faith in Jesus Christ. According to a CNN article, Ibrahim has been in jail since January 17 and was convicted of apostasy on May 15. Complicating matters, Ibrahim was pregnant when she was jailed and gave birth to her second child, a girl, last month. In addition, her nearly two-year-old son is in jail with her. Her husband, Daniel Wani, who is Christian and an American citizen, told CNN, her case is now being considered by a Sudanese appeals court.

Although Ibrahim’s father was a Muslim, she was raised as a Christian by her mother, an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, after the father abandoned their family when she was 6 six years old. Apparently, her Muslim relatives are the ones that turned Ibrahim into authorities.

In addition to waiting on the decision of the Sudanese appellate court, Wani is also seeking assistance from U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire, his home state.

As American Christians, we need to be, at the very least, praying for for Mariam Yehya Ibrahim and Daniel Wani. And as we pray, we should also consider what are we willing to sacrifice for our faith?

As the saying goes, Jesus is not willing to bear the cross alone…If you don’t believe me, read John 15:20-21…Remember how I told you that servants are not greater than their master. So if people mistreat me, they will mistreat you. If they do what I say, they will do what you say. People will do to you exactly what they did to me. They will do it because you belong to me, and they don’t know the one who sent me.

And there are many stories in the Bible and beyond that demonstrate that some of us may have to pay for our faith with our lives…

I’m not a “gloom and doom” Christian by any means, but we have to know that having sincere faith in Jesus Christ will cost us something…

So I ask this question again: What are we willing to sacrifice for our faith?

Below is a video detailing some of this couple’s story…

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, December 22, 2013

Kim Fields Celebrates Christmas in “Holiday Love” and HER NEW BABY!!!

Hello World,

After today, Christmas is just two days away! Yay!

What is Christmas without holiday specials? One of my favorite actresses Kim Fields is back with another installment of “Holiday Love,” a Christmas program that debuted in 2010 and has been broadcast on television every Christmas season since then. Now, she is taking “Holiday Love” to the Internet. “Holiday Love: The Rebirth” is a new installment of the program. Here is a brief excerpt of what Fields said about the special in her interview with Rolling Out…

“Absolutely! I actually play myself and the film is centered around my pregnancy, the birth of Christ and the nativity. So the idea of us having a newborn right around that time inspired us. So basically my husband had the idea of what if we had me pregnant and I have this horrible dream that I’m directing a reality TV show called “Lifestyle of the Pregnant and Fabulous.”

So it’s a fictitious holiday special where the celebrities are brought together to compete to have their child be born on Christmas to be the baby in the nativity scene at the All Star Nativity Concert. So, comedian Gary Owens plays our producer who puts it all together and my husband plays his assistant. Debbie Morgan plays one of the contestants as a surrogate and there’s just lots of funny bits and pieces to the story.”

According to ABC News, the idea came to her when she discovered she was pregnant with her second child at 44 years old. (There is hope for us older brides!)

When the actress-director made the big announcement on the syndicated talk show “The Real” on July 31, she was shocked to see it go viral.

“It had such a big impact that we just started brainstorming,” Fields said of her and Morgan, a fellow actor. “We knew that I would still be pregnant by God’s grace and would deliver right before Christmas.”

And according to Us Weekly, she gave birth earlier this month – Dec. 3!

Fields and the Broadway actor named their new bundle of joy Quincy Xavier. He weighed in at 8 lbs., 8 oz. “We are so blessed and grateful to God for this newest gift to our family,” the couple tells Us.

“Holiday Love: The Rebirth” will air tonight at 8 p.m. EST on HOLIDAYLOVE.TV. Also, I interviewed Kim Fields previously on After the Altar Call…Below is a preview of the special…