Author Paula Rose Michelson's Testimony and Book Giveaway!

Welcome one and all! We're closing out June with a deep, thought-provoking testimony of Author Paula Rose Michelson. She's living proof that God changes people and uses them in a mighty way, both young and old. I know you will be just as inspired as I was when you read her story. She writes both Christian and mainstream novels as well as a few children's books. Everyone give her and round of virtual applause!

PT:  Hi Paula! So glad to have you here at the Diamond Mine. Tell us your background and your genre. 

PRM: At forty, I believed in Messiah (Jesus). One daughter believed before me, the other the same night I did. My husband came to faith a few months later. When I invited hurting women to my home and showed them how God’s Word would help, news got out, and Pastor Hurt appointed me as the ladies lay counselor. Ron headed the greeting ministry and, in his in his 60s, finished seminary. With the encouragement and the leading of the Rucah HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), I founded LAMB (Life Affirming Messages from the Bible) Ministries and continue to mentor women to wholeness, which can only be achieved through use of God's Word.  

Before his graduation, Ron was already a field missionary with Chosen People Ministries, which is the largest and oldest outreach to the Jewish people throughout the world. I was delighted to be a church ministry coordinator for them and was blessed to speak with many interesting people whom the Lord had called to serve Him in their communities. Ron’s sermons consisted of connecting the dots between the Old and New Testaments in a way that would help congregants reach out in a sensitive way to those Jews they knew. However, when we returned, I found they hadn’t shared because they feared losing the relationship. I understood, because rabbis teach that you can believe in anything, but if you believe in Jesus you are no longer a Jew. What happens to the Jews is probably where the concept of shunning comes from, since we are pronounced dead, and for seven days the family is to sit shiva (grieve). During that time everything about that dead person is removed.  And, yes, to all our Jewish friends, we are dead.

PT: Give us your main reason/theme/mantra of writing, both Christian and mainstream.

   

PRM: When God called me to write The Naomi Chronicles, I had been asking Him to give me something to do that hadn’t been done before. What He called me to do was more like listening to what Naomi said and writing it down. So I’m more scribe than author. Naomi’s story of fleeing a five hundred-year-imposed silence of what she believes, and what happens when she finds herself in a place once again, and where she continues to hide is different than the inspirational Christian romances I’ve read. Her journey to wholeness in Yeshua (Jesus) is so harrowing that it takes six volumes to do it justice. Each book is wonderful; however, my personal favorite and the one I will give is Choosing to Be: The Naomi Chronicles, Book 2. As a writer of faith stories, it is in this book that Naomi and Chaz are grieved over their lost love and receive Messiah in very unusual ways that I can’t tell you without ruining the story.

PT: Are there any characters in your books that resemble you most in personality?

PRM: Whatever authors write reveals bits about them. This is true of me, as well. I noticed this a few years after No Other Choice: The Naomi Chronicles, Book 1 was published. There are scenes within this and the other books that are reminiscent of things Ron and I have done. That I don’t realize this while writing is God’s blessing.

PT: Where did you get your idea for the Naomi Chronicles?

PRM: I was writing a book a small publisher interested in publishing the work. However, I didn’t know much about this Sephardic (Spanish) Jew, Naomi. Between the needed research and interviewing her, Naomi started telling me her story. The publisher was thrilled to hear this and encouraged me to keep writing. When she realized the saga was bigger than she could handle, she bowed out. I am forever grateful to her because she had been asking me to write for years based upon the times she had heard me speak and walked off with something I’d written for the occasion. Some of the stand-alone pieces found within the Naomi books were written for our monthly Shuvah Yisrael Women’s Devotion Writers’ group. It is interesting that God showed me there were pieces I’d composed a long time ago that belonged in a specific spot and made the book better.

PT: Tell us 5 things quick about you that have nothing to do with writing.

PRM: 

1. When Ron was ordained a Lutheran Pastor, I was 65 years old. 

2. A Christian lay counselor, I was almost a chemical dependency/ lifestyle-disorder counselor, but God had a better plan for my life. 

3. I was an artist and had a one-woman show at a Beverly Hills art gallery when I was 17. 

4. I have two lovely daughters and seven grandchildren. 

5. I just released my first of nine Fruit of the Spirit children’s books, A Father’s Broken Heart: 8-Year-Old Gracie & The Save a Soul Prayer Team as author Paul-Rose, and I plan to write the second kids’ series about the armor of God.

PT: Do you have a Bible verse that is your current favorite, one that speaks to you right now? 

PRM: Yes, the beginning of Psalm 46:10 which says, “Be still, and know that I am God …” speaks to my heart. My life verse, 1 Corinthians 1:28–31 says, God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

PT: Your story really touched me, Paula, as I know it will touch others as well. And really, truly, it's why we do what we all do. Our little part to help show the world Christ and his sacrificial love.

 As usual, we have a giveaway, but we need people to leave a comments! We need at least five people to leave their emails, hopefully with an inspiring message as well. Thank you all for being here with us at the Diamond Mine, and I know some of you are super faithful readers! How we appreciate all of you! Keep reading for the giveaway~

BIO: When not involved in writing, speaking or helping other writers, Paula pursues other passions while supporting her husband Ron who is a Lutheran Pastor and Chosen People Ministries field missionary. This happy mother of two married daughters and grandmother of seven, has friends who often tell her that she weaves such wonderful tales, they lose track of the time. Since both family and her ever-increasing reader family matter to Paula, she hopes to impart a blessing to those who read her books.

Email Paula at: Paula.Wordsmith@yahoo.com
Friend Paula on Facebook at: https://goo.gl/CpkdZr
Paula's Facebook Author Page is at: https://goo.gl/t2a9mz
Join Paula’s VIP Author Group on Facebook at: https://goo.gl/4Yqe1d
Paula Rose Michelson, Naomi Chronicles, and other books at: https://goo.gl/jYagKJ
Twitter: https://goo.gl/0YD21U or @PaulaWordsmith1
Paula-Rose's Facebook Author page at: https://goo.gl/t3qqZr
Join Paula-Rose's 8-Year-Old Gracie & The Save a Soul Prayer Team at:

             https://goo.gl/wYpExE
Writing Paula-Rose blog https://goo.gl/dyVj3m
Paula-Rose on Twitter https://goo.gl/pXMbLp or @AuthorPaulaRose
LinkedIn: https://goo.gl/hnsXur
Goggle+: https://goo.gl/HL4zeW

Book giveaway - Choosing to Be: The Naomi Chronicles, Book 2

5-Stars!"A beautiful, intriguing story! This book and the series are highly recommended." ~ GABixlerReviews http://amzn.to/1zK3rPC

Longing, lies, desire and passion give Naomi and Chaz no rest as they try to figure out how to live without the one their heart cannot forget or forgive. Desolate, will they answer God's heart call? In her 5-Star rave of this Inspirational Christian Romance author Katie Mettner said, “Chaz and Naomi's story will captivate you!”

Unable to face the fallout of revealed secrets, Naomi has fled. Alienated from all who loved and affirmed her, with no place to stay, God will gift her everything if -- finding herself embraced by people who care -- Naomi discovers the 'Lover of her Soul'. Will Naomi's friendship with a 'Titus 2 Woman' and the blessings found at 'Blessings Rock' bring her to Christ?

When Chaz visits his family, he discovers that Naomi and he are very much the same. Yet he needs more proof. Sent to his uncle’s, Chaz is about to realize that his life was a lie. Will discovering that what he is told is true help him claim Naomi's love again?



Can the individual faith journey’s each has taken bring them back ready to love each other? And if so, how does a couple that wed before they knew each other overcome what Lola did?