Under the name Francis Lee, I write interracial Christian romantic suspense. My stories are about finding enduring love when hope and redemption seem unattainable as danger lurks around every corner. My characters learn that where there is darkness, "joy will always come in the morning".
Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you.
Sometimes, I need someone to talk to as I wade through my life. I pray for help, and believe it or not, God sends one of my sisters to say a kind word.
Kind words go a long way. She talks, I listen, and then she prays for me.
It warms my heart to know someone in this crazy world cares for me.
They had a lounge area of dark wood, crystal, glass, and brass hardware. Highback armchairs of dark brown buttery leather dotted along the main floor around a splatting of side tables, main tables, or alone under wall scones or the occasional floor lamp. Music played softly in the background; some jazz or some blues nothing too modern just enough to make you relax while taking a sip of your drink and sinking into your chair waiting for your meal to arrive.
Intimate but not too cozy, it was not a family restaurant. It was a wonderful steak house with the most delicious food and great service.
Then that hateful virus Covid hit and the city went on lockdown. The owners were old, and rent was a little too high. They were there for years and then decided to retire.
Closed and gone yet not forgotten.
Nothing lasts forever except for good memories of fine dining.
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
Psalm 61 verse 2 and 3
The world around us is in turmoil. There are wars and rumors of wars. There is fighting in the streets, killings, drugs, trafficking and more taxes, and less money. This all can be overwhelming. But God is present. He promises to never leave or forsake us.
When the going gets tough, he does not and will not walk away. He is the fourth man in the fire, covering us from all things.
We may go through the problem, but he will bring us out on the other side of the problem on dry land.
No one can predict the future. Most times, I have a hard time thinking about what I need to do in the next hour, let alone in ten years from now.
My times are not my own. I live in the presence of God. He is in control. Sure on a natural level, I need to make sure I have money for the future, so I put something up for retirement.
I make provisions for repairs and things I may need to succeed in my endeavors, but I do not rely on them. I rely on God. Things may go wrong. Health may fail. People my walk away, but God is there forever, and he is in control.
But I am human. I dream of a happy future where I am successful as a writer, and now I prep the stage for that. But my heart is not fixed on this because life gets in the way, and disappointment leads to frustration and anger.
I am flexible, and I go with the flow and make up another dream when the first does not pan out.
He is the creator. He called into existence things that never existed. He parted the Red Sea so his people could walk to the other side on dry ground. He gave courage to a man who stuttered so he could deliver his people out of slavery. He calmed the seas. He shut the mouths of lions. He made the blind to see. He opened the wombs of women well past the age of conception. He raised the dead. He healed the sick and so much more.