BOOK AWARDS: Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul - 1st Place Winner in the 2022 Christian Indie Book Awards

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Lorilyn and her cat James in the memorial garden for her furry friends

DOOR NUMBER ONE - A Short Story from Seventh Dimension The Howling,” by Lorilyn Roberts

Door Number 1

 

I stood in the foyer and stared at Door Number 1. The only choice I was given was the order of the doors. So I could know the future to warn others—wasn’t that what the voice said?

I turned the handle. The door opened to a room of mirrors. However, these weren’t regular mirrors; they were mirrored doorways. “Which one should I enter, Lord?”

I heard nothing. I waited a little longer, but God’s voice was silent. He left the choice to me. I wanted to choose wisely. I stepped around several and came to a tall mirror. I stuck my hand in and pulled it out. I passed up that one and several others until I came to a mirror with moving images. I entered that one.

I was in a world of moving sidewalks. They went to the north, south, east, and west, crisscrossing each other, intersecting, and moving at very high speeds.

I looked down at my feet, and I was standing on the word “Go” in a multi-dimensional space. As I studied the moving tele-transports, I noticed travelers. Some of the people were anxious. Others seemed to enjoy the journey. Some disappeared and reappeared farther down the road. Others popped up and stayed.

I watched, mesmerized. I tried to see people’s faces. Who was happy and who was sad? That wasn’t made clear to me.

There were more than a dozen sidewalks. The longer I mulled over which one to choose, the more uncertain I became. After a while, I grew weary. I threw up my hands. Choices carry eternal consequences, and I wanted to make the right one.

“You choose,” I heard a voice say. “Free will is a wonderful thing in the hands of an awesome God.”

The sidewalk whisked me alongside dozens of other travelers. As the moving sidewalk carried me, I saw foods that whet my appetite. Cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants, and other pastries called my name. I passed a brewery with a sign advertising free samples of beer. Farther along I caught a whiff of delightful scents—perfumes, essential oils, and soaps—so many choices, so much opportunity.

The exchange of money increased. Soon I saw people buying things they couldn’t afford. They pulled out credits cards, signed bank loans, borrowed from friends, and more.

“I’ve maxed out my credit cards,” someone said.

“No problem,” a merchant replied. “Just sign here.”

I left that conversation, and I continued along the widening sidewalk of debt.

“This car will be the best car you’ve ever owned,” a car salesman exhorted. “It’s the number one rated sports car in the world.”

I looked at the price tag—a hundred thousand dollars.

Soon I came to a crosswalk. Until now, I didn’t know the sidewalks were named. To my surprise, I was traveling on the Sidewalk of Necessities. I came to a store where a merchant was selling animals. The buyer offered the seller money, which was no small amount.

The merchant shook his head. “That’s not enough. These animals are extinct. You can breed them and create a new Garden of Eden. Imagine the people who will flock to your attraction—people who love Mother Earth, conservationists, animal lovers, and bird enthusiasts. You’ll be the richest man in the world. Who wouldn’t want to visit the rebirth of the Garden of Eden?”

The bartering continued. What would be a fair price to buy extinct animals and create another Garden of Eden?

As I walked, I came to a merchant who was selling futures. “Hear ye,” he shouted as he waved his hand. “Step right up. We’ll release your heart-felt dream. It’s reasonably priced, and you deserve it. Come and see a demonstration of the only dream reaper in the world.”

A woman walked up. “What’s the price?”

The wiry man whipped out his hand and pointed with a dramatic flair. “Have a seat. If you qualify after this demonstration, you’ll be given a special seat in the real dream reaper.” I looked behind the salesman at a most unusual contraption.

The woman was in her late twenties or early thirties and appeared to be in good health. Youth was leaving her, as it does for all of us, but she was too immature to have attained wisdom.

The woman poured out her heart to the stranger in extraordinary detail, expounding on all the unfair and unjust things that had happened to her, leading to a life in the gutter of despair. Always the victim, she wallowed in self-pity and rejection.

The merchant smiled. “You’re just the right person for the dream reaper. You deserve better. Don’t worry about the cost. You can pay it off in the next thirty years before your date with death.”

“What do you mean, my date with death?”

The merchant replied, “Well, I can’t tell you any more than that. You’ll need to talk to the dream reaper. He can answer that question.”

She looked around. “Where is he?”

The merchant pointed. “Step right up to the dream reaper building.”

The woman hesitated.

“You want to release your dream, right?”

The woman nodded, but her enthusiasm dissipated when she realized she couldn’t have it—another unjust and unfair thing to add to her trophy list of unhappiness.

I continued walking. A merchant stood out front waving a strange-looking banner—Soul Extractor. No one was at his stand, so I left the Sidewalk of Necessities and strolled up to the merchant.

“Tell me about your soul extractor business.”

His eyes lit up, and he greeted me with such exuberance I felt indebted to make a purchase.

“Would you like your soul extracted?” the man asked me.

“What do you do with the soul once you extract it?”

“Oh,” the merchant said, “I give it to the devil.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever met a person without a soul?”

“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “If I sell my soul to you, then I no longer have a soul.”

“That’s right,” the merchant said. “But for some people other things are more important than their soul.”

I stared at the merchant.

The man leaned over and looked into my eyes. “Think about it,” he whispered.

“You mean people would sell their soul?”

He laughed. “Absolutely.”

“What do you give them for their soul?”

The man cocked his head as if surprised by my question. “The devil sets the price.”

So what do you do with the soul you extract?”

The man laughed. “As I said, I give it to the devil.”

“You can’t do that,” I protested.

The smile left his face. “Look, I’m not discussing the moral issue of it. All I care about is selling the soul, and all the devil cares about is receiving the soul. So we have the soul extractor. Everyone is happy. The person has what he wanted, I’ve made the transaction, and the devil has the soul.”

I shook my head. “How can you do that?”

He leaned over and whispered, “Because I sold my soul to the devil and now I do his bidding. I have no choice. He owns me.”

⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔

To purchase the multiple award-winning book Seventh Dimension - The Howling, click here

Isaiah 45:7 (KJV): I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. 

C DAH-DAH-DAH V DI-DIT D - LINKS TO PODCASTS AND VIDEOS FROM TOP DOCTORS ABOUT THE JAB: Christian Blogger Lorilyn Roberts

 

For anyone who is interested in the latest uncensored Covid-19 information, below are links I've compiled. 

I don't know how long the links will work, but I've watched all these videos and can vouch for the fact that they are NOT hatched from conspiracy theories. I wish they were. I will say a couple of quick things here.

1. We will never go back to before Covid-19.

2. We will continue to lose our freedoms because governments never return the power that they have taken from the people back to the people.

3. This is an orchestrated effort by the leading nations in the world to begin the formation of global control through medical passports. 

4. The hour is later than people think. 

5. Be prepared for food shortages, internet takedown, and economic collapse.

6. Don't believe the mainstream media. Don't believe anything Fauci says, question everything you hear, and use the brain that God gave you TO THINK. If it doesn't make sense, don't believe it.  

6. Do not fear. God is in control.

Here are links to information related specifically to COVID-19.

1. Graphene Oxide Found In All Four Vaccines and Other Disturbing Ingredients

2. Deadly Vax Batches Identified

3. Former Phizer VP & Chief Science Officer Blows the Whistle!

4. Evidence: No Vials Are Safe

5. Dr. Peter McCullough on the Alex Jones Show

6. Mel K & Dr. Bryan Ardis on the Global Medical Killing Fields and Crimes Against Humanity

7. Dr. Robert W. Malone Podcasts

8. Most Important Video You'll See/Watch/Listen/Share With Loved Ones

9. Joe Rogan Interviews Dr. Robert Malone

10. PART 1: Dr. Peter McCullough The Inexplicable Suppression of Hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin, and Other C0vid-19 Treatments

11. PART 2: Dr. Peter McCullough on Omicron Realties and VAERS Reports on Vaccine Injuries and Deaths

12. The Stew Peters Show- Evidence That No Vials Are Safe! Full Stop! Terminate Covid Injection Program Now!!!

13. Susan Pierce (from the CDC) Telling Everybody Not to Take the Poison Jab

14. Orwell City: Identification of Graphene, Self-Assemblies and Macro-Techology

15. Dr. Peter McCullough Interview by Meet Me for Coffee Podcast

16.  Shedding, Vaccines, and Graphene Machines - Dr. Sam Bailey

My blogpost previous with this title: "Are Doctors, Professors, and 'Smart People' Hearing From God About Covid-19" caused me to be suspended from Twitter. 

If Twitter is worried about somebody like me posting something about Covid, you have to ask, why? What is really going on here? This isn't about medicine. It's about something else far more sinister. I'll let you, the reader, think about it. If you care to read that blogpost, click on this link.

ARE DOCTORS, PROFESSORS, AND “SMART PEOPLE” HEARING FROM GOD ABOUT COVID-19: Christian Blogger Lorilyn Roberts

Recently, a good author friend of mine in Melbourne, Australia, asked, “Why are people here giving up their freedoms and receiving the jab without question?”

His question is one that few are asking. The most severely locked-down state in the world, Victoria, Australia, is reminiscent of Nazi, Germany. Anyone who hasn’t received the jab cannot participate in everyday life.

My friend said (and a pastor friend in Melbourne said the same thing to me), that Australians take the jab without question, without thought, without concern about the totalitarian nature of enforcement, even for those who don’t want it.

The truth is, maybe God IS speaking to those people, but they aren’t listening.

When you read through the Old Testament, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, for example, the people did not listen to the prophets. Despite all the warnings, the people didn’t heed the dire predictions from God and chose to go their own way.

If you remember the movie, The Matrix, those who swallowed the red pill knew the truth. Those who took the blue pill lived in virtual reality without an awareness of the evil matrix. If The Matrix’s victims had known their reality wasn’t real, would they have chosen to continue in the matrix or would they have chosen to live in the real world, no matter how difficult or painful?

These types of movies are often predictive of future events. I wonder if God gives us a foreshadowing through media of our future to warn us, in much the same way as the Old Testament prophets exhorted the wayward Israelites. Of course, we know Hollywood is full of occultists, and while Satan is not omniscient, he knows enough to infiltrate people’s thoughts to believe he’s as wise as God.

Fast forward to today. Many people have turned off the news. Some have awakened to realize that much of what they have been told isn’t true. Despite knowing they have been lied to, many would still prefer just to live their lives in ignorance. Never mind the truth; never mind morality; never mind the ultimate purpose of the globalists, or whoever is in power.

The absolute truth is that Lucifer only knows what God allows him to know, and God has given him his “prince-of-the-air powers" to deceive those who “think” they know the truth from those in Jesus Christ. 

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

I have often said that God is gracious in that He doesn’t give us all the truth because if we were all-knowing, that knowledge would destroy us. Remember the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden, wanting to be like God with the knowledge of good and evil? If we have a moral compass rooted in our Savior, the evil part is what we can’t handle. Only Jesus Christ could endure the cross and become sin so that someday we will know God perfectly and there will be no sin.

The depravity of man is so absolute—the evilness within our hearts and the wickedness of the world—that perfect knowledge of evil would destroy us. I see an animal get abused, and it devastates me. To see a child suffer or be a pawn for an ignoble purpose is unconscionable. To even think about abortion makes me sick to my stomach if I dwell on it.

I remember what Jesus said about those who hurt a child: 

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea (Mark 9:42).

As the country falls prey to increasing evilness, few people are willing to stand for truth. Look at what the media did to General Flynn, President Trump, and Sidney Powell in the last election. Now they are going after Florida Governor, Ron Desantis, and anyone else who opposes the globalists’ agenda.

When it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine, the pharmaceutical companies, the CDC, the FDA, the NIH, and the WHO are in cahoots with one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates. Many people don’t realize if a vaccine or so-called vaccine injures a person, the drug company has no liability. Liability ensures accountability. We don’t have that anymore (we once did), even though big pharma has made millions off vaccines.

However, the pharmaceutical giants pay millions to the news media to advertise their drugs. What commercials do you see on T.V. all the time? The networks push big pharma because those commercials pay their salaries.

The Bible says the anti-Christ will be involved in three spheres of influence: The government, religion, and commercial enterprise; and I think his method of enforcement will rely heavily on the media—including the World Wide Web, 5-G, A.I., social networks, and surveillance.

Recently, I’ve come to realize we will soon be like China. If a person doesn’t follow the government’s rules, somebody will turn him in. Why—to raise the tattler’s social score. Remember what the Bible says in Luke 12:53 (NIV):

Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

To address Covid-19 specifically, the push for a mandatory vaccine is NOT about a vaccine. The mRNA is NOT a vaccine. It’s a tool. It’s laying the foundation for implementing the Mark of the Beast. This whole system must be in place BEFORE the anti-Christ makes his appearance.

I will add a little levity to this dire topic. When I went through breast cancer treatment, I had a double mastectomy. I opted to have a plastic surgeon do reconstruction in conjunction with the surgery. 

Anyone who has had a surgical procedure knows the physician visits the patient the morning of the surgery to talk to the patient about the procedure. My plastic surgeon came in per the usual protocol, and I asked him how long his part of the procedure would take.

He said, “A couple of hours.” I was surprised. “That long?” I asked. He replied, “Well, we can’t just shove it up there.”

The truth is, there are many dots to connect and threads to thread and technological innovations (that need patents) that must be in place to facilitate the work of the anti-Christ and his partner in crime. The evil one can’t just “shove things into place.” Satan has been working on this project ever since the Garden of Eden, but we are close to the culmination of this epic battle between good and evil.

Most Christians don’t know this stuff because they DON’T WANT to know it. Almost one-third of the Bible is prophetic, and yet, how many Christians have read the book of Revelation or studied the Old Testament prophets?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that things are not as they appear. Or perhaps it’s the biased nature of the media, highly skilled at editorializing facts, that spins the news to fit their version of the truth. However, any thinking individual can see right through the deception—if they want to.

Historical documents reveal how Hitler used the media to push his Nazi agenda and indoctrinate the youth. His propaganda was imbued in the educational system, and his youth camps tapped into idyllic dreams of nirvana. Germans longed to see a renewed vision of their country’s future after Germany’s humiliating defeat in World War I (article from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

I said years ago that the media would be part of the beast system. If you agree with their agenda, the media gives you a platform to speak, and they put a mic in front of your mouth.

A mouth was given to him speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him (Revelation 13:5).

I don’t believe the unbiased mainstream media will ever come back because THEY DON’T WANT to come back. Why should they? Is there an economic incentive to tell people the truth? Do the media conglomerates (90% of the American news is controlled by six companies) have enough moral chutzpah to question the pharmaceutical companies’ data who pay their bills and keep them on the air?

It’s not just the news media held hostage. The unfortunate victims trickle all the way down to YOUR physician. Most doctors have chosen to accept the status quo. If they speak out against the vaccine, or question the data, or just want an open dialogue, they risk losing their medical license. 

Some have faced threats to themselves and their family. At the very least, they receive verbal reprimands that can be escalated all the way to the licensing boards.

Besides that, how many doctors really want to take on the medical establishment? Perhaps they are too comfortable living in virtual reality. They make their big money, live in their expensive houses, and have kids to educate.

Instead, they go along with the narrative, and after a while, they start to believe the narrative. Physicians and nurses have to believe it because how would they live with themselves if they didn’t? What about that Hippocratic oath (complete oath found here)?  

What about the thousands of doctors who have denied Ivermectin to hospitalized patients who might have been saved if they had received early treatment? What about the man in my church who died from Covid? The hospital refused to offer him Ivermectin despite his wife’s pleas.

Again, why would they deny possible life-saving treatment? The fact is, the NIH could not issue an Emergency Use Authorization of a new vaccine if other treatments were available. The EUA enabled pharmaceutical companies to skip some of the vaccine protocols that have been followed for decades.

That’s why they shut down Trump when he started talking about hydrochlorothiazide. A year later, the narrative continues across America. Hospitals are not allowed to give Ivermectin to patients for Covid because they say it’s an off-label use. 

In reality, doctors use drugs in off-label ways all the time. But if hospitals or doctors prescribe it for Covid, they are in trouble.

For a loved one to receive Ivermectin in the hospital, the only option is for the family to go to court and get a court order, and even with that, the road is treacherous. Hospitals continue to put up roadblocks. Why? 

If Ivermectin works (like so many doctors worldwide have documented), how can the medical community in America justify the thousands of patients they have denied treatment to with this Nobel prize-winning drug? That would be akin to saying they allowed them to die. Do your own research on this topic, preferably with a different search engine than Google. Be prepared to swallow the red pill. You won’t like what you see.

I replied to my Australian friend, who asked, “Why are doctors not hearing from God like you and me?” My answer still is, “Because they don’t want to.” They have justified the means, making people take the jab, to achieve their end goal. It runs roughshod over individual freedoms, particularly here in America.

A few people are fighting back. But is it too little too late? Governments rarely give power back to their people once they have seized it. Will my daughters know the freedoms I’ve enjoyed throughout my life? I don’t know, but as my mother says, “They won’t know any different.”

Socialism in Cuba

Sadly, our young people have been indoctrinated into socialism so that they don’t know what’s at stake; but I’ll keep fighting as long as I’m here.

When the FBI came to my house, they asked if they could talk with me about what happened at the Capitol Building on January 6. I replied, “I’ll be glad to talk to you if you let me talk about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

They said, “We know you are a Christian.”

As I watched Trump supporters with their bare hands tackle the “insurrectionists,” who held long rods (deadly weapons) and were attempting to break the windows, the Spirit within me said, “Christians must be willing to fight.”

I didn’t know what God meant at the time. Looking back, I believe what the voice was admonishing me is that we must be willing to stand up and defend the truth, fight for the unborn, push back against critical race theory, question everything, and not bow to government mandates that we must take the jab even if we don’t want to. We’ve got to be willing to “occupy” until the Lord’s return, and increasingly, that’s going to get more and more difficult.

My way of fighting back is to stay in the Word, pray unceasingly, encourage my friends, and witness when I have the opportunity. I acknowledge that most of what I hear and see through the media isn’t true. And I know that things will continue down this slippery slope until the Tribulation. If we pray and ask God for mercy, perhaps we can slow things down.

But I have to ask, do I want to? I’m ready for Jesus to return now. I can’t wait for Him to execute justice on this fallen world. I can’t wait to see my Savior, who died for me (and you) on the cross over two thousand years ago.

I don’t know if we can delay events. But I know God wants us to be busy witnessing and bringing people into the kingdom. That’s THE most important thing. There isn’t anything more important than where we will spend eternity.

Getting back to the conversation with my Australian friend, again, I have asked myself this question hundreds of times: Why do I see this stuff and other people don’t?

If you look at the gifts of the Spirit, one of them relates to knowledge. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another, the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge (I Cor 12:8).

I am not a prophet and would never want to be, but I do believe God, on a few occasions, has given me a “Word of Knowledge” about things or insights that were beyond my natural ability to perceive.

I also think, and this is just me speaking, creative people have a sensate spirit. In other words, they “feel” things that the average person doesn’t perceive. They feel it in their soul.

History is replete with examples. People write books, paint paintings, and write songs that capture the essence of reality long before the typical person trying to “survive” is even aware of what’s happening. 

Perhaps the creativity of these gifted people is even part of the movement, inching society forward because that’s how change happens. An emotional catharsis arises. Sometimes it leads to war; at other times, it leads to social revolution.

We are experiencing that now. Christian authors who have been writing for the glory of God can’t help but be aware of the increasing evilness everywhere. God mysteriously gives us insights that we can use to glorify Him that would probably be squandered by others who are happy to swallow the blue pill (The Matrix).

Now, I’ve probably put the reader to sleep with all my ramblings, but my Australian friend asked a great question: Why do some people see what’s happening and others don’t? There isn’t a simple answer—yet. But we need to keep asking the question.

Here are a couple of links I will pass along to the reader. There is also an ap for your phone that you can download from J.D. Farag’s website.

J.D. Farag website:  https://subsplash.com/calvarychapelkaneohe/lb/ms/+82yxp8f

Here is one I liked in particular, but all his Bible prophecy updates are good: https://subsplash.com/calvarychapelkaneohe/lb/mi/+6nw97nd

Excellent sermon by Jack Hibbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGtSAXMUDAk&t=3456s

If you watch this video, you will NOT want to get the second jab: https://www.brighteon.com/e4c1acfe-50dd-4f2b-bf49-3ae89b0740f5

Might I end with the most important question—where will you, the reader, spend eternity? This world is passing away, but the glory of the Lord is forever. 

Don’t leave Earth without accepting Jesus Christ into your heart. He longs to have a PERSONAL relationship with you. Give your life to Him, turn from your sin, and don’t look back. The Lord’s return is very, very soon. Don’t wait. Today is the day of salvation.

 

THE THANKSGIVING I WILL NEVER FORGET: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts

 

Many years ago, I sat with my dad on the front porch one summer night in Marietta, Georgia. The stars shone brightly overhead, and the chirping of nightlife filled the air. We got into a discussion about whether we would live to see the turn of the century. I was a young teen at the time, but my dad was in his 40’s.

He shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll live that long. I’d be in my 70’s. Well, maybe.”

Both his parents died when he was young, so his words hung in the air, pressing in on me that I would probably outlive him and my mom, although my mother’s side of the family is long-lived—typically into their 90’s. My mom is approaching that age in 2021. Sadly, my dad didn’t make it to 2000. He passed away in 1994 from a brain tumor, but he was close.

My dad used to say that even though his body had aged, his mind was still the same as when he was young. I never understood what he meant when I was young. I suppose if you get Alzheimer’s, that’s not the case, but the thought that your mind doesn’t age like your body does is intriguing. How can that be? 

As I continue to stretch myself doing things I never imagined, I hope it will help keep my mind spry. I am learning Morse Code and pondering what my first sentence will be when I go on the airwaves. The biggest adjustment will be instead of sending out captions at 260 plus words per minute, I’ll be “competent” if I can send out ten words per minute using C.W. 

I just applied for Social Security and will be retiring at the end of the year. Where does the time go? I remember a poem I wrote by that title when I was around fifteen. Because my mother loved it so much, I even turned it into a song.

It’s so easy to lose track of years as they come and go and not even realize decades have passed in what seems like the blink of an eye. Since August, I’ve been an empty nester. Both my daughters have moved out. I even needed to replace the 20-year-old van that I bought when Joy was still an infant.

While I might be sounding a little melancholy, I’m thankful to be alive. And this Thanksgiving, I wanted to focus on how grateful I am for all the blessings God has given me.

I asked myself, what is my favorite Thanksgiving? At sixty-six, I’ve lived through quite a few. And the answer came almost as quickly as I asked the question. I want to share an extraordinary Thanksgiving story from when I was seven.

My mom and adoptive father married on November 3, 1962. Three weeks later, that Thanksgiving holiday, my life changed forever. The arrival of my childhood pet is a story made for Hollywood. But God wrote it for me before the foundations of the world.

At a tenuous time when my mother had just remarried, because we moved to a different area of Atlanta, I had to switch schools. I was a lonely, confused kid. Being forced to repeat first grade didn’t help. But God had His eyes on me. He knew I needed a special friend. Our loving, heavenly Father sent me a stray dog that taught me more about God and the meaning of love than most seven-year-olds could ever understand. That is—unless it was someone like me, someone who needed the kind of love only a dog can give.

Here is an excerpt from my recently published book, Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul.

 

Seven Years Old

 

One morning I awoke from a fantasy world more thrilling than Disney could ever create. I felt a wet, warm kiss on my cheek. When I opened my eyes and saw a dog, I wrapped my arms around her.

“Who are you?” I asked. As my dreamy eyes focused, I saw she was white, and somehow, she had walked into the house, run up the stairs, and found me in bed.

My mother stood across from me with a smile etched across her face.

I patted the dog’s head. “Where did she come from?”

“This is Gypsy. We’re going to keep her,” she said.

I blinked to make sure I hadn’t died and gone to heaven. Not that I even knew where that was, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t starring in a Hollywood movie. Surely this was just make-believe.

A prominent movie director in New York once tried to convince my mother to let him take me to Hollywood. My mother said no, and I lost my only bid for Hollywood stardom. Instead, Hollywood discovered Hayley Mills. Everybody, when I was young, compared me to her. I’ve heard it said everybody has a twin. Hayley Mills was mine.

Everything faded into the bedroom walls as I focused on the bouncy white, playful pearl. While some might argue we saved her from a wretched life on the streets, I’d say she saved me from a very challenging, lonely childhood. Is dog not God spelled backward?

Mother told me how the night before, Gypsy snuck into the apartment through the door with my stepfather—who I call Dad for the remainder of the book—when he returned from the store to buy milk.

Soon Gypsy became my faithful companion and playmate. When I came home from school, she would be waiting for me at the door. I invented games to play with her. I would place my hand underneath the blanket and move it around, and Gypsy would “fetch” it with her mouth. I soon learned how much dogs love to chew on shoes, slippers, and record covers.

When I came home from school, I could hardly wait to walk her. When we returned after each walk, I would announce how many times Gypsy had used the bathroom, both number one and number two, to validate I was the best dog walker in the world. I cleaned up after her when she made a mess so nobody would know. I always had a deep-seated fear I might lose her.

One afternoon I arrived home from school, and I knew something was wrong. Gypsy didn’t greet me at the door, and I ran through the house looking for her.

“She’s gone,” my mother told me. “The apartment manager said we couldn’t keep her, and your father took her to a protected area. Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.”

“Where did he take her?”

My mother paused before continuing. “You know the apartment complex doesn’t allow dogs. We had no choice.”

My heart broke. I knew it might come to this. I’d overheard the whispers. I ran out of the room and up the stairs to my bedroom. Burying my face in the pillow, I cried. Gypsy was gone. I didn’t want to believe I would never see her again. Even at eight, I believed in miracles.

That night thunderbolts crashed outside my bedroom, and lightning pierced through the window shades. I imagined Gypsy in the darkness. I could feel her fur against my skin and see her dark, brown eyes pleading for me. I twisted and turned in bed as peals of thunder bounced off the walls. If Gypsy ever found her way back, I vowed to run away with her. I would never let anybody take her from me again.

The next day came and went. She didn’t return. I went to school, hoping she would find her way back.

After another stormy night, Wednesday arrived, the day before Thanksgiving. We were packing things to visit my new father’s family in North Carolina. My mother had recently remarried. We had yet to meet the extended family of her new husband—a brother and three sisters.

I kept looking up the hill in front of the apartment, imagining that I would see my dog come flying over the rise in the road. I knew it was almost impossible, but I hoped. I made one last trip to my bedroom. The car was loaded, and we were ready to leave. I picked up my pillow and remembered the first morning Gypsy awoke me and licked me on the face.

“God, please help Gypsy to find her way back.”

I walked out the door to get into the car. Glancing one last time up the hill, I saw something white. Was it, could it be—I dropped my pillow and started to run. My mind raced, and I ran as fast as my legs would move. It couldn’t be—but it was.

Tattered and dirty and barking excitedly, Gypsy ran toward me, flashing her tail in the wind. She had survived two nights of bad weather and found her way home through a raging storm. If she had arrived two minutes later, we would have been on the road.

I crouched down and held her as she whimpered and licked my face. I didn’t know I could laugh and cry at the same time, but one thing I did know—God brought Gypsy back to me.

“I will never let go of you,” I promised.

Gypsy squealed. For the first time, I believed in God.

 

🐶🐶🐶

 

All these years later, my faith in God remains steadfast. And as I wrote in my book Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul, I know I will see Gypsy again. My younger daughter Joy and her roommates recently adopted a dog from the local humane society. I’m smiling on the inside. The Roberts’ tradition lives on with my children, and that brings me great joy this Thanksgiving.

To learn more about my memoir, Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul, click on this link.  

TRUMPET SOUNDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD - SIGNALING THE RETURN OF YESHUA - I COR 15:51-53: Christian Blogger Lorilyn Roberts

It was in 2016 that I heard the trumpet sounds. The first time I was walking Sirius, my border collie; and the second time I was inside the house. I had heard them previously on YouTube, so I was shocked when I heard them with my own ears. Whatever the sounds were, it wasn’t a hoax. 

A couple of weeks after that, I thought I heard them again, but when I went outside to listen, I didn’t hear anything. I went back inside and again thought I heard something. This time I had my phone to record it, but I didn't hear anything when I stepped outside.

Later that night, my daughter came home from a special event for a high school classmate who had just finished treatment for Hodgin's lymphoma. The class celebrated the girl’s healing from cancer by hosting a party outside the high school on the football field. 

My daughter said, “When I was there, we kept hearing sounds coming from the sky that sounded strange, but there was nothing there.”

I provide closed captioning for television, and one night when captioning a baseball game, I heard the trumpet-like sounds. The game announcers commented, "What is that strange noise?"

If you go on Youtube, you will find that these noises that sound like trumpets have been heard all over the world. What does it mean? I truly believe it’s the Lord’s trumpet, signifying His soon return. The trumpet is recognized in the Bible as the battle cry. 

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep but we will all be changed--in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet [emphasis mine]. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Cor 15:51-53, Berean Study Bible)

Since we don’t know when the last trumpet is, I would encourage you to turn to Jesus Christ, believe in Him, repent of your sins, and be born again. We don't know how much more time we have. His return is completely unknown to everyone except God.

Today is the day of salvation. Call on Yeshua's name. Be ready! Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, loves you.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 NKJV)

HAVE PINK SUITCASE - WILL TRAVEL: Short Story by Lorilyn Roberts

Hailey Becker was all of 79 years old. She lived with her doting, younger husband for the better part of her life, and they had two wonderful grown daughters who lived nearby. They were one of those families you couldn’t help but like. Hailey was the best cook this side of paradise, and Charlie could be anybody’s uncle—even the mothers-in-law who gossip too much. Charlie knew how to be polite and caring, and a pot of coffee was always brewing whenever I stopped by.

So when we heard about an upcoming surprise trip, everybody wanted to know the details. However, Charlie could keep a secret like no one, and Hailey—well, I’m not sure she knew all the details. 

A few weeks later, Hailey called me. “You must come by and see my new suitcase,” she said. “When we went to Cuba, our suitcases were too small for all the stuff we bought. We had to ship the vases back, and I worried for weeks when they didn’t arrive.”

I stopped in to see her bright pink new suitcase. What did her hubby think about the pink luggage? Knowing Charlie, he would say it was perfect.

“I wanted to be able to find my suitcase amongst the hundreds of others. You know, they all look the same when they pull them off the boat.”

I remembered when I went on a cruise and came home with somebody else’s luggage. And I didn’t even notice it wasn’t my bag until I opened it and found high heels stashed inside.

I laughed. “Sounds like a good strategy,” although I couldn’t imagine Hailey being like me and coming home with anybody else’s luggage. 

Several months went by, and Hailey talked about the upcoming trip on several occasions. I heard through the grapevine that her suitcase was packed. One day she said to me, "You know, I keep telling Charlie he needs to pack his bag. Mine is ready, but he hasn’t even started packing his. We sure don’t want to miss the boat. What can I do to get him to pack his clothes?”

“You know how men are,” I said. “They can pack in three minutes.” 

Hailey’s eyes twinkled. “Not me. I like to be ready at a moment’s notice. Unexpected things can come up, and it would be dreadful to miss the boat because I packed too late.”

 

I smiled. “Charlie won’t let you down. He’ll be at your side when you are ready to board that ship. I promise you.”

Soon signs revealed the trip was imminent. I heard that the suitcase was right beside Hailey’s bed, where she now spent most of her days. She was ready whenever the moment arrived.

Then I received word that they were on the way to the departure gate. Charlie reassured me he had her ticket in hand and her belongings were in the pink suitcase. He would make sure she was comfortable as she stood at the gate. I couldn’t wait to say goodbye to my friend.

When I arrived, Hailey’s bubbly personality enveloped me. She pointed to her bags, “I’m ready,” she exclaimed, “but I still don’t understand why Charlie hasn’t packed very much.” After a few minutes, she added, “I’m not going to worry about him. If he wants to wear the same clothes every day, that’s his choice.”

“He’ll be fine,” I assured my friend.

“When are we leaving?” Hailey asked Charlie several times as I sat beside her. “I don’t want to miss the trip.”

Charlie took her hand in his and locked onto her pleading eyes. "I promise, you won’t miss it.” 

I stopped by the departure gate several times until she made the trip to Glory. I heard her leaving was peaceful. And I also heard that she didn’t need the suitcase she had meticulously packed. 

I thought about all the things I’ve packed away, not only in my house but in my heart. Then I remind myself, it’s an all-expense paid, one-way trip, and we don’t need anything except our passport.

“She wasn’t one minute late,” Charlie reassured me, “and the smile on her face lifted my sorrowful heart.”

Who greeted her when she arrived? I’m sure it was a glorious reunion of friends, family, and Bible heroes. When it’s my turn, I know Hailey will be there to meet me.

Hailey Becker is not just my friend. She’s everybody’s friend. She is all those we’ve loved and said goodbye to too soon. And even though I know I won’t need a suitcase, like Hailey, I want to be ready at a moment’s notice. I find comfort knowing that my bag is packed—a bag filled by my Savior with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. I must remember to refill it from God’s Holy Book each day, so I’m always ready should my name be called. 

I imagine Hailey received so many gifts upon arrival that she was glad she didn't bring that earthly pink suitcase. While we try to fill our lives with worldly wealth, the wealth in Glory will far surpass anything we could conjure up here. Indeed, I suppose all the pink suitcases in the world could not contain the treasures awaiting when we arrive.

 

 

I’ve also heard that I won’t need a winter coat or even any clothes. By all accounts, the weather is perfect, the land exquisite, the joy unspeakable, the citizens glorious, and the price exceptional—by that, I mean, it’s free to pass holders—bought and paid for a long time ago by Jesus Christ. Every day I make sure I’ve packed my pass. The truth is, it’s so big, so heavy, and so heavenly, no pink suitcase could ever contain it. And only Jesus Christ could carry it.

                              Second Place Flash Fiction/Short Story                                        

 Florida Christian Writers Conference 2021