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    Waking the Prodigal
    Waking the Prodigal
    Waking the Prodigal
    Ebook132 pages1 hour

    Waking the Prodigal

    By Genovi James

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    .........."Shortly after Rachel was born in 1990, I was driving alone down the road in Point Mugu, California doing my basic Sunday errand running. JJ was stationed there, and since I was a faithful liberal yuppie, I was DRIVING my recyclables miles away from home along endless deserted farm roads. Approaching an intersection, listening to the radio blaring, and enjoying being away from JJ and all the children; I suddenly heard a strong forceful voice say loudly, right next to me, “YOU WILL NEVER LIVE TO SEE YOUR CHILDREN AGAIN.” Just like that."..........

    And so begins the 2nd book in the Prodigal Series. Whereas the 1st described the fight against evil, in 2007, to save the James’ teenage children, this book details the incredibly painful and miraculous path their mother Genovi walked 10+ years earlier in the 1990's - to develop the faith that equipped her for that battle. For developing the armor to endure spiritual warfare doesn't happen overnight; and it certainly doesn't happen when you are clueless to the reality OF spiritual warfare. Unfortunately, 'clueless' would describe JJ & Genovi James as they began their married life. He was a talented young Navy pilot; and she was a feminist law student. Both were schooled in the current American culture – that of success, and beauty, and intelligence, and power. Those were their gods.

    Aren’t they everyone’s?

    But those gods fall short when life begins to spin out of control. And in the James family – life began to spin TOTALLY out of control. Here are just a few of those ‘spinning moments’:
    ___________________________________________________________________

    .........."Two days later, JJ called. He was in the main room where the Captain steers the ship. His voice was faint, and worried. “Genovi, what is wrong.”
    I sat down and began to cry. “JJ, I just have to tell you that I can not guarantee that any of your children will still be alive when you come back. We almost lost Colby the other day. I had no control. There is nothing I can do to protect them.” "..........
    ____________________________________________________________________

    .........."The doctor told me that they could admit the baby, but she would probably do better in her own bed; so to take her home and make her comfortable. I was to bring her back in the morning so that they could see if she was improving or not. At that time they would make decisions. Then as he got up he looked at me sadly and asked where my husband was.
    “On the carrier, the ship is in Port Call in Spain, I think.”
    “If I were you,” he responded, “I would get him home; and soon.”"..........
    _____________________________________________________________________

    .........."I stared at the Principal standing on my front step. “Mr. Dibbs,” I replied, “I put my kindergartner on the bus today to go to school. Please don’t tell me that you do not have her.”
    “Now don’t panic,” he said, “they’ve already organized a search party and I’m sure they’ll find her soon.... Do you think you could come up to the school, Mrs. James? And do you have any recent pictures of her? The Police are asking for one.” "..........
    _____________________________________________________________________

    And so join JJ & Genovi James as they get their 'wake up' call from the REAL God - a call that would ultimately save their children's lives - and their own.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGenovi James
    Release dateApr 5, 2016
    ISBN9781310428173
    Waking the Prodigal
    Author

    Genovi James

    I am a fairly predictable person: a woman of steady habits raised in the land of steady habits – New England. If left to myself, I would be found with a good book and a cup of tea. Unfortunately, with four children, I am rarely left to myself. I am, in other words, a predictable person living an unpredictable life. Children will do that to you. One minute you’re sitting there, drinking your tea and reading something like ‘How to organize your life in 10 easy steps’. The next minute you answer the phone and you are living ‘How to keep your life from spinning out of control in 1 frantic step’. It ain’t easy.But that’s motherhood – yet apparently not ALL motherhood. I have friends (also mothers) who tell me that they are living vicariously through my stories. My stories, and my children, often make for a good laugh. Usually afterward. And always because I believe a good laugh outranks a good cry.It wasn’t always this way. There was a time in my life when I was a young, liberal, feminist law student; well on my way to solving all the problems of the world. I married a young Naval Aviator and began to travel that world. During the next years, we had 4 children and suddenly all the problems of that world seemed to move into my living room. They had names: Jessica, Colby, Rachel & Sarah.As time went by, I began to realize that, just perhaps, I wasn’t sure how to solve all the problems of the world; heck, some days I had no idea how to make it to dinner! But I hung in there and slowly, as the Lord used my ‘problems’ to grow my faith in Him, my focus became much clearer. And as my focus grew clearer; I began to realize just how OUT of focus so much of this world is...Just as a camera lens has difficulty focusing in dark places, so our spiritual lenses are skewed for lack of spiritual light. Our culture is growing darker; and focusing is harder than ever... Unless one walks with the Light of Faith – one stumbles about aimlessly. And unless one reasons with the Light of Faith – one reasons blindly. This book is the story of how I learned to walk, and reason, with that Light. And it all came from having ‘problems’ with 4 children...

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      Book preview

      Waking the Prodigal - Genovi James

      Waking the Prodigal

      (A Memoir of Faith)

      By Genovi James

      Copyright 2015 Genovi James

      Smashwords Edition

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.

      eBook formatting by www.gopublished.com

      Dedicated to my husband and our children – through whom every single one of God’s blessings have come to me on earth.

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1: alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance…

      Chapter 2: For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

      Chapter 3: I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you

      Chapter 4: " and they may come to their senses and escape"

      Chapter 5: No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself…

      Chapter 6: ‘Woman, behold, your son!’

      Chapter 7: See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones…

      Chapter 8: A stubborn fool considers his own way the right one…

      Chapter 9: On their hands they will bear you up

      Chapter 10: Are they not all ministering spirits…?

      Chapter 11: Before they call I will answer…

      Chapter 12: Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer.

      Chapter 13: As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…

      Chapter 14: And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding…

      Chapter 15: He who believes in the Son HAS eternal life…

      Chapter 16: They do not know nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness

      Chapter 17: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again…

      Chapter 18: And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those…

      Chapter 19: to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light…

      Chapter 20: The One forming light and creating darkness…

      Chapter 21: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you …

      Chapter 22: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean…

      Waking the Prodigal

      (A Memoir of Faith)

      Chapter 1

      "…alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance…"

      Ephesians 4:18

      The people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the foot of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it (Jesus freeing the man from demonic possession) told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed…. Jesus got into the boat… The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might stay with Jesus, but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." Luke 8:35-39

      In 2005, I heard this passage from Scripture preached, and the pastor asked how many of us had done just that – had told those ‘from our home’ what God had done for us? I realized that, in the prior 15 years I had changed a great deal, and since I was always living a continent away, no one from my ‘home’ probably had a clue as to what had happened to bring about this change; and so perhaps it was time to tell. This little booklet is what I wrote to my family at that time; back in 2005 before the craziness of the kids’ teen years began (which I detailed in my other book – ‘Prodigal’s Steps’). And so I have labeled this story ‘Waking the Prodigal’, since it details the events that occurred in my life to convert me from a modern day ‘Christian Catholic’ (aka a ‘Good Housekeeping’ Christian Catholic – those who believe Christianity is about being ‘nice’, ‘tolerant’ and ‘accepting’ (of any and all evil)) into someone who begins to search and understand the true power of Christ to overcome that evil.

      For the changes in my life, beliefs and personality had come about due to some pretty miraculous occurrences, which at the time seemed odd and I tried to explain away. But as years went by I came to realize that such things don’t just happen to most people. I still do not know why they happened to me, except to state that perhaps God knew how hard headed and stubborn I was, full of intellectual knowledge and pride, and so He had to use a battering ram to break through. I guess He knew best because, when I look back at the incredible things that happened to me and the fact that after seeing them with my own eyes, hearing them with my own ears, and feeling them with my own senses – it still took me almost 15 years to ‘get it’; I think it would have taken a lifetime (if ever) had He not been so abrupt. I can only thank Him for not shaking His head, sighing, and just giving up….

      Nonetheless, this is my tale.

      Chapter 2

      "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."

      Psalms 91:11

      Shortly after Rachel was born in 1990, I was driving down the road in Point Mugu, California doing my basic Sunday errand running. JJ was stationed there, and since I was a true faithful liberal yuppie, I was driving my recyclables miles away from my home. Those were the days before recycling had started and I was a true earth lover who was single handedly ‘saving’ the environment (though the gas used to drive through countless miles of deserted farm roads to do that recycling may have negated those efforts – but I digress). I was approaching an intersection on one of those back country roads, listening to the radio blaring and enjoying being away from JJ and all the children (Jessica 5 yrs., Colby 19 months and Rachel, a newborn); when suddenly, a strong forceful voice said loudly, right next to me, YOU WILL NEVER LIVE TO SEE YOUR CHILDREN AGAIN.

      Just like that.

      I immediately slammed on the brakes – expecting a tractor-trailer to come careening through the intersection. But there was nothing. My first instinct was to keep from danger, and so I looked to protect myself before my mind next began to think – wait a minute- where did that voice come from?!?

      The radio was still blaring on the same song; I was alone in the car, nothing in sight except farm fields as far as I could see. Blinking and shaking my head, I immediately began rationalizing, I must have imagined it, but hard to convince yourself when you just lived through it. Nonetheless, I shook it off and continued on.

      My final errand was the recycling facility – in an industrial park, at the end of a long road. The drop off point was around in back; you pulled up, got out of your car and dumped everything in. As I got closer to the industrial park, the hair on the back of my neck started rising inexplicably, my skin started crawling and every part of my instincts began screaming flee!!!

      But rationality won out, and I pressed on. The place was deserted, not a building open on a Sunday, the long road was empty – and I pressed on. Slowly I began to drive through the narrow road around to the back, and that’s where I passed the car full of men.

      They looked like trouble. They were obviously drunk or stoned, 5 or 6 young men, appearing to be migrant workers – but suddenly very excited to see a single young woman drive past them in this abandoned park, miles from nowhere. They began pointing at me and jumping up and down. Already nervous due to the Voice in my car, I finally decided to go with my instincts and FLEE.

      But there was no way out.

      So I made a way. When I got around the building, instead of getting out of the car to toss my recycling or turning around to try to get past them again, I gunned the engine and drove right through the farm field at the parking lots end. As I flew out of the field on the other side of the building, I looked back and sure enough, the men were out of their car, which they had used to block off the return road with, and they were lying in wait for me. As I sped the car out of that industrial park that day I knew one thing – if I had not heard that Voice on that country road, I would have never lived to see my children again.

      Chapter 3

      "I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you"

      John 15:19

      But life goes on, and with 3 young children – quite crazily – and so I quickly forgot ‘the Voice’. The kids were constantly sick, I was constantly sick, even the dog was constantly sick – and JJ, due to his job as a US Navy pilot, was constantly gone. My memory of those days was carrying an infant in the front pack on my chest, a toddler in the backpack on my back and dragging a practically unconscious 70-pound dog under my arm back and forth to the vet. (And I wonder why my neck hurts so much today…)

      But still something was gnawing at me because, being a person who

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