Genovi James - Prodigals Steps: The True Story of a Familys Desperate Flight Back Home

Prodigals Steps:

The True Story of a Familys Desperate
Flight Back Home

Genovi James

Table of Contents

Copyright 2014 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.

Prodigals Steps

It was a spring day in 2007 when my blinders finally, and completely, fell off. It was the day when my illusory world the world our culture tells us is normal came to an end. It was the day I realized that, as we all walk this world, contrary to popular belief we do not walk alone

Chapter 1: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:14-16)

My dear friend Grace; you know that I often tell people about the amazing journey to wholeness that my family has been through. It has been one miracle after another. Things had gotten so ugly in our home, that we literally were thrust to our knees desperately seeking a way out. The only way that opened was the way of Abraham, the way of Moses, the way of Pilgrims, the way of countless other people of faith who have gone before; the way of the crushed and broken Prodigal. We could no longer stay where and how we were, and survive as a family. We simply had to leave.

Well, 7 long years later, people no longer believe me when I tell them that our children were rebellious; and our home a war zone. They think I am making it up when I say they cursed us, attacked us, ridiculed us, hated us. Our children are now beautiful, faith filled, exuding mercy and grace. Our home is now peaceful, joy filled, exuding laughter and light. In modern terms, it is even successful with young people excitedly embracing caring, professional careers.

And so I blithely tell people step out in faith, you never KNOW what God can do! I tell them that absolutely every good thing in J.J. and my life (and there are innumerable ones) can be traced directly back to a moment in time when we looked at each other and said, This is the absolutely WORST thing that could have ever happened to us. I believe that this witness gives people hope; gives them a reason to hang on, a reason to try.

But I think I am neglecting something. I think I am neglecting the pain. It is easy to brush it off, to try to forget it, compartmentalize it, celebrate the good and forget the evil. However most people I speak to are still living the pain. That is why they are desperate. And so perhaps I should begin to mention it more.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

I had promised you, Grace, that I would write you my story the story of a mothers hand-to-hand combat against evil, against Satan himself, to save her children. Its the story of the realization that when you fight Satan long enough you begin to recognize him very well in the battle BUT only when you are looking through the eyes of faith. Once your eyes are clouded with this world he disappears into the fog. And thats when you begin to lose

And so I begin where I last left off in my earlier book. I had originally written it for my family; a family that promptly thought I was nuts. But as St. Paul went to the Gentiles in the hopes that his own people would be brought back to faith so I am now writing to non-family in hopes that perhaps it might speak to my own. And hope is all I have.

My first book had detailed all the miraculous interventions God had made in my life to open my eyes to really see. It was my first cure of one of the diseases of this modern world cynicism and belief in the futility of goodness This was during the time when the children were very small (Jessica was about 10, Colby was about 6, Rachel was about 4 and Sarah was about 1) and I (Genovi (Gen) James) was a young Navy wife trying to make it through constant moves, long deployments (of my fighter-pilot husband Jason (J.J.) James), and even more constant attacks by the enemy. I had grown up as a New England Catholic someone who went to church on Sundays in some vague hope that if this God thing was actually real then it might be my ticket into heaven. But after God sent an angel to save me, physically, from death; my eyes began to open and my mind began to wonder. Hard to deny the reality of evil, when evil had just tried to claim your life; and hard to refute the reality of goodness when goodness showed up to save you. So I had prayed for knowledge to know if demons were real. God opened my eyes to see them. I had prayed for knowledge to know if angels were real. God opened my eyes to see them. I was walking with eyes of faith and could see the truth good and evil so clearly. I was pouring that faith into my children, and they were excited to live it. Hence, the constant attacks.

At the time, seeing through worldly eyes, I just figured that this was the way life was very hard. Now I look back through the eyes of faith and see an enraged enemy angry that I had woken up to the truth, in this world of lies and deception so angry, in fact, that he was just plain trying to beat me down. But there is one thing, I think, that blindsides Satan; because there is one thing, I think, he just cant understand Love. I love my children, and hence, the more he attacked them, the more I fought to save them, and the harder I clung to Christ.

Because Christ was all I had.

No money, no family, not even a husband around most of the time. It was Jesus, and me; and I was holding on for dear life. Not much else you can do when you have 2 missing children in 2 years with search parties, helicopters, swamps and alligators. Or when you have doctors telling you that you need to find your husband (on port call in Spain sure, no problem doc!) and get him home a.s.a.p. as there is a good chance your child will just not make it. Or even the little inconveniences like broken bones, constant ear infections, emotional distress, and exhaustion Christ was ALL I had. And I gotta tell you; it was hard, but it was also the best time of my life. Clinging to Jesus leaves you clinging to joy.

And hope.

And love.

Which is a good combination, in a not-so-good world.

Chapter 2: Whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. (Proverbs 17:13)

You see, Ive come to realize that life would be easier in a Disney movie. In a Disney world, you see good by just looking around, and evil by doing the same. Good looks like a little cottage with the birds, rabbits, mice and Princess singing. Evil looks like the castle of the horrible step mother dark and foreboding, spooky. There-fore, when deciding where to go, the decision would not be a tough one: ummmmm, I think Ill avoid the castle and hang out in the cottage!

Easy.

But easy is not found in this world today whereas in ages past, it was pretty straightforward. Everyone knew what it was to sin, to be on the wrong side of what was right. It was not a guessing game; and people knew that their own choices put them on either of those two sides. They also knew that even though life could be hard and brutish; if you chose to go on the evil side then it would most likely turn out to be downright brutal AND horrific. Hence, life was usually lived as a life of intent a life of meaning. And the meaning was not how to make money, how to be popular, how to get my 15 minutes of fame. The meaning had a higher significance an eternal one. And so, ones choices mattered. And everyone, everyone , knew that. They saw through the eyes of faith.

However, in the world of today when most all have lost eyes of faith; we accept cultural statements that it is hard to know evil and, quite frankly, no one is really all that sure that it even exists anymore. To square that statement with reality, we are next told that no one is really all that good anyway And if they are trying to be good then you need to watch them really closely cause it is just an act. We are told nowadays that not only is no one actually capable of being good; but that no one has ever really BEEN good. All those old stories of purity and honor were nothing but fables or, in other words, lies; lies made to make us think that there was such a thing as impurity and dishonor. But we now know better; evil is simply a word created by intolerant people, and being good just means you are really nave, and most likely a loser. And those who want to be good, and avoid evil, are just judgmental haters anyway