ARE YOU READY TO OPEN YOUR GIFTS FROM GOD By Patricia M. Goins

BONDAGE

Burnout, misery, depression, and strife.

I’m tired of being unhappy, I want

change in my life.

Slavery, addictions, burdens, and pain.

Different words that all mean the same

thing.

No peace, no joy, no happiness, no love.

I’m tired of being in bondage.

I want to be set free.

Lord please come and rescue me!

 - Patricia M. Goins




The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. 
Isaiah 61:1

It wasn’t until I was at the end of my rope that I started praying to God and asking Him to help me. It was around this time that a friend invited me to go to church on New Years Eve. 

I had never spent New Years Eve in a church. In the past, it was a tradition to go to a club with my friends and get wasted on alcohol and marijuana on New Years Eve. Looking back, I now realize that it was the best decision I ever made. When you reach a cross road in your life and you feel a strong desire for change, this is God speaking to your spirit. He is the only one who can put you back on the right path toward your true destiny and purpose in this life.

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I wasn't planning on using the above Video (no longer available), but, perhaps, God led me to see it out of the corner of my eye... In today's world, we need to pursue every way in which Black Lives may be enhanced, don't you think? Today, I posted on Facebook about Louisville, Kentucky's great negotiations to improve the police relations in that city, as a response to the murder of Breona Taylor... Yes, there was money...but all of the issues identified for which changes were to be made were. to the nation, much more important...I hope the actions in Kentucky will spread across the nation.

As a reviewer, I have met and read books from all races, many of them Black writers. I haven't found one that was not well worth my time. More importantly, having made friends with these writers, and seeing their posts routinely, I began to see something that was prevalent in most of their lives that wasn't necessarily in White lives... The importance of God and Family... I wonder if our white ancestors had been enslaved and brought over to America in chains as slaves, how different America might be right now... The time, I believe is now to move forward, like never before...and make Good Trouble!

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Patricia Goins has presented us with an excellent, short, question book. Are You Ready to Open Your Gifts From God? Well, I always like to think I am. But I have to admit there was at least one gift that is available to me that I have sometimes been unable to open... Perhaps that is the same way for you? I sure hope so--I hate to be alone in this...

Goins starts out with a short overview of her personal life, including becoming a nurse, right out of the military. Perhaps it was "good money" as her family noted often, but, Patricia was just not happy... Her past may be different, or it may be somewhat like yours...No matter, because she has taken each of those important gifts and shares with us as if we were in a one-on-one conversation. You know, like with a friend, she wrote..."Are You Ready?" And then each chapter brings on another question... or a statement: "God Wants to Show you the Way."

Several poetic verses begins the section (such as "Bondage" above, which sets up the reader on the specific topic to be covered next. The gifts are not new, forgiveness, love... but the narrative on each one provides a thoughtful review of these words, from God's standpoint... 

I was blessed by this short book and know you will be too. In this time of turmoil, this book helped me to calmly consider...and reconsider...what gift I might not have opened during this chaotic time.  Check it out... I highly recommended.

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