The Bible fascinates me! I love reading it, love testing it
to see if the promises and conditions written within are fact. Of course, I read lots of other books. I have
always been a voracious reader that buys books before I buy something to
eat. Notwithstanding, the Bible is the
book I read the most, because I dwell in it on a daily basis, have parts of it
programmed into my iPad so that a verse pops up to energize me on an hourly
basis and because I have discovered the principle truth for my own life. It is
not only entertaining; it is not only history; it is not only literature, it is
simply fascinating, and it demands childlike faith and trust to encounter and
find the jewels hidden within it. The
Bible is a tiny reflection of the wisdom,
strength, patience, knowledge, understanding, mercy, faithfulness, and love our
God has for the human specimen he has created, and in my opinion, could have
only been written by men and women who were divinely inspired by the Holy
Spirit, the third person of the Godhead.
As a writer who majored in Psychology with minors in English and Education, my childlike beliefs were challenged when I entered the university, and I must admit that I failed the challenge. As some of those people who are presented in the Bible, I took an intersection that led me far from the faith of my parents and those people who had so courageously put pennies together in church to send me off to college.
Instead of childlike faith, I entered into the world of philosophy where everyone was a mature adult that knew it all, and I discovered the decadence and double-mindedness of human beings who believed only in themselves and their perceptions of the world. I became associated with men and women who had rules and regulations based on how pleasurable it felt and discovered a lonely life, where the most precious innate sense of purpose became buried beneath the egotistical blanket of self.
It took me some years to come back, but thanks be to God, at the age of twenty-seven I knew what hell was like, by living it on earth, and the LORD stepped in as he has done with so many others and pulled me out of hell's fire.
This introduction may sound strange, but I felt it necessary to give you a small private glance at my own background before I begin the series. You see, I am not a Bible Scholar and have not studied theology in any school. I am not pretending to know the Bible from inside out, because I believe the Bible will never be fully known or fully discovered until Jesus comes and we are raptured up to be with him. Paul says it so eloquently in 1st Corinthians 13, we know in part but then shall we know as we are also known. I am only one single individual that has been walking in the Words written within this book daily, since the day He pulled me out of Hell's fire, and I am continually finding out what God says he will do, he does. He is truly not a God who lies. You can bank on it. The word of God is undoubtedly living and active, sharper than any double-edged word. It does penetrate the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow and it judges the thoughts and attitude of any heart who would make a permanent commitment to follow him and do things his way.
Therefore, what I write about in The Chosen series is my perception in accordance with how God has revealed it to me through the Holy Spirit. In times where I have needed encouragement to continue on, or the patience to wait on the fruition of my heart desires, or the faith to keep my eyes on my goals, or the love to forgive others as he forgave me, or the joy to rejoice in who He is and not what I am, or the compassion, to be merciful as he is merciful to me, I have discovered in the Bible the only real help and assistance to do any of these things.
As God proclaimed before Moses, I proclaim in my writing,
He is the LORD, the LORD God,
Merciful and gracious
Longsuffering and abundant,
In goodness and truth,
He is the LORD!
Ciao,
Pat Garcia
