My heart thudded as I read the passage
from Hebrews. I knew the Lord was highlighting it for me, but why? We were in
our tenth year of running a Christian conference center and were very happy,
fulfilled and content doing so. We loved the ministry and were considered
experts in our field. The center had won numerous awards. We enjoyed a
beautiful custom-built home. Everything was going quite well. I reread the
Scripture.
Let
your character or moral disposition be free from love of money – including greed,
avarice, lust and craving for earthly possessions – and be satisfied with what
you have; for He, God, Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor
give you up nor leave you without support.
I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless, nor
forsake nor let you down. Relax My hold on you.
Assuredly not! So we take comfort
and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I
will not be seized with alarm – I will not fear or dread or be terrified. What can man do
to me? Hebrews 13:5-6 (Amp)
I prayed as I got dressed for work, “Lord, I know all this. I don’t
have a problem with greed or craving for things. I know you will never leave me.
Thank you, Jesus.”
My husband turned to me as I walked into our office overlooking the
beautiful East Texas lake. His eyes betrayed his bewilderment. “We’ve just been
fired.” One sentence—and the ministry we had built and loved was gone. That
proclamation from the new owner resulted in the loss of our careers, our home,
and as the days went by, the subtle eroding of our confidence and self-esteem.
As shocking as it was, however, the Lord had prepared my heart by washing me
with his word in my early morning devotional time.
I referred to
the “word” over and over in the years which followed. As we struggled I
reminded the Lord many times he promised me he would not leave us helpless. The
page is torn, frayed, and tear-stained. That
Scripture proved to be the life raft to which I clung during the turbulent
days, months, and yes, years of unemployment which followed, and he proved
faithful in unimaginable ways to fulfill his promise to us in the ensuing
years.
About Golden Keyes Parsons
Golden Keyes Parsons is a popular retreat
and conference speaker and author of historical novels. Her book, “In The
Shadow Of The Sun King,” (Thomas Nelson Publishing), first in a three-book
series based on her family genealogy, released Fall 2008, and was named a
finalist in the ACFW’s Book of the Year Debut Author category.
Her second book,
“Prisoner Of Versailles,” released September 2009, was named a finalist
in RWA’s prestigious Daphne contest and was also a finalist for the AWSA Golden
Scroll Novel of the Year.
The concluding book in the series, “Where Hearts Are
Free” released September 2010 and is a Women of Faith Book Club selection.
Her
fourth novel, “His Steadfast Love,” a Civil War novel set in Texas, released
November 2011, and was a finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards.
Her
current ebook series, Hidden Faces:
Portraits of Nameless Women in the Gospels, WhiteFire Publishing, commenced
with the first novella, Trapped! The
Adulterous Woman in October 2012. The second novella, Alone, The Woman At The Well, was released in April 2013. Book #3, Broken, The Woman Who Anointed Jesus’s Feet released
in October 2013, and Hopeless, The Woman
With The Issue Of Blood, will release in April 2014. The four novellas will
then be combined into a print compilation.
Golden and her husband, Blaine, are retired
from the pastorate and reside in Waco, TX. When she isn’t writing or speaking,
she is busy with their three grown daughters, eight grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren or attending sporting and alumni events at Baylor
University.
BROKEN
The Woman Who Anointed
Jesus’s Feet
Harlot. Tirzah had vowed she would never become what her
grandmother and mother had been, but when her mother died and left her alone
and unmarried, she succumbed to the despised profession to survive.
The lives of Tirzah and the three most important men in her
life—Simon, the Pharisee, Adam, a kind gentleman from the past and Jesus, the
Messiah—intersect at the house of Simon during a banquet when Tirzah defies
cultural traditions and expresses her gratitude to the Master for freeing her
from the devils that haunted her. Her tears overflow and the fragrance of the
ointment she pours on the feet of Jesus fill the room touching all who observe
in astonishment. Some were repelled; some were moved; some were never the same
again because of the courage this sinful woman exhibited in lavishing her love
on the Messiah. The biblical recording of a broken life, symbolized in the
broken vial, has come down through the ages to become one of the most treasured
accounts of Jesus’s compassion toward sinners. Parsons’ fictionalized account
of this woman brings into sharpened focus details of what might have been.
http://tinyurl.com/mrys4ds
(Amazon.com)
http://tinyurl.com/wdwygh
(Barnes & Noble)
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Website: www.goldenkeyesparsons.com
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