Write
Now Literary is pleased to be organizing a two-week the book tour for We Are One by Muriel Gladney. The book tour will run June 24-July
5, 2019. Book a tour here.
Book Title:
We Are One
Genre:
Non-Fiction
ISBN-10: 1644387190
ISBN-13: 978-1644387191
An abusive
childhood had led me to become a full-blown atheist by the time I was 16. God
introduced Himself when I was 52. This journey to true life is recorded in my
book: Mine: An Everlasting Promise of Love, Deliverance, and Wholeness.
Now 76, I
have spent the last twenty-four years learning to walk free in the shoes of
being a child of God, while also honing my God-given skills as an ambassador
and writer for Jesus, author, and speaker. After moving to California, I
returned to college at the age of 61. There I received an Associate Degree in
Arts with honors, functioned as a reporter and Editor-In-Chief of the college
newspaper, along with receiving numerous rewards for writing, such as the 0CCWF
Beverly Bush Smith award. I am also published in God Encounters, a book by
author James Stuart Bell.
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About The Book
We Are One
presents an unchanged, endless, truth—women were not created to live in
disappointment, disillusionment, and defeat. We Are One is bursting with inspiration and encouragement as each
chapter utilizes the raw, true life, experiences of several women
who endured personal pain and yet came through empowered and
victorious. How? Through the use of a key that a woman never knew
she had. We Are One unveils the key. It will heal a woman’s soul, as item powers her to live a life that
is not defined by trials and persecution. Women will know the power of a woman’s purposed influence and thus her eternal
value.
Purchase a Copy:
Tour hosted by Write Now Literary
We Are One
Chapter 1 – A Petite Giant Killer
We can do all things through Him [Jesus,]
who strengthens me, Philippians 4:15
T
|
he
children of Israel were dealing with a flesh and blood enemy Goliath whose size
alone struck fear into the hearts of experienced adult warriors, 1 Samuel 17. The men turned and fled in
fear. King David, yet a youth at that time, heard the boasting of the enemy.
His faith in God led him to ask the men around him what gifts would he receive
if he slew the giant. The men mocked and taunted David, including his own
family. When Goliath saw David, he also scorned him because of his youth and
size.
However, it is written that David knew and
trusted Yahovah, our heavenly father and God. Goliath told David to come on so I can kill you. David said I’m coming but I am coming in the name of
the Lord whom you have insulted. David ran towards the enemy and killed him
with a stone.
It wasn’t the stone. It was David’s faith in
God that gave him the victory.
Pilar Garcia’s story is reminiscent of a
current day David fighting Goliath. Standing a mere 4’ 11”, her battle against
death, her spiritual Goliath, has
spanned five decades.
Born in Ecuador, Pilar is now 72.
Pilar wanted to be a nun when she was young.
She always believed in God because her aunts and uncles were the first
missionaries in Ecuador. They often took her with them on their missions.
However, her life would run a different course.
At the age of 22, she was on the plane that
was kidnapped and taken to Cuba.
“Money was required by the government to be
paid before the planes would be released,” Pilar stated. “An additional price
was charged for American citizens.”
However, during the initial flight, she
sensed something was wrong when she looked out of the window. She knew from
previous trips they should have been flying over the mountains to their next
destination to catch another plane to the United States. Instead, they were
flying over the ocean. She asked the stewardess what was going on. She admitted
that they had been hijacked. Then, without warning, the man sitting next to
Pilar pulled out a gun. He was one of the hijackers. Over the past few years,
Pilar said she had heard that some of the hijackers are now living in The United States.
“I tried to find them on Facebook,” Pilar
said. “I couldn’t locate them.”
At the time of the hijacking, Pilar was
living in the United States, but she often went back to Ecuador for vacation.
When the plane landed in Cuba, they were not allowed to leave the airport. She
was not yet married. However, she was ready to fight for her freedom.
A devout Catholic from childhood she knew God
would protect her. She was 22 at the time. Some of the younger girls, ages 17
to 18, looked to her for strength. They were in Cuba for almost a week. During
that time, they did not have a change of clothes. Pilar showed them how to wash
their clothes and especially their underwear in the bathroom. One night they
heard a strange sound. It was Pilar who opened the door to confront the
possible attacker.
She returned home to the United States.
Death tried to sneak up on Pilar again.
Although it was her first pregnancy, she kept trying to tell the doctor that
something was wrong in her stomach. They insisted that she was simply homesick.
She staunchly maintained her position and kept telling them that was not the
problem. Her complaint was ignored. The baby was born in March of 1971.
However, the pain in her stomach continued for another three months.
“At times it was so bad I felt like I was
dying,” Pilar stated.
Her husband kept insisting that she needed to
go to Ecuador to see a doctor. She prepared to leave but she was so sick that
she felt she was not going to make it. Then out of the blue, one of the doctors
called her and asked her to come to the hospital right away.
“I was in so much pain that the mere touch of
the sheets over my body hurt,” Pilar said.
They took her to surgery and opened her up.
But then told her that there was nothing they could do. In their opinion, she
was going to die after they informed her what was wrong with her stomach.
Her stomach was full of pus. They could not
even decide what to do because of the extent of the infection. The doctors gave
her 24 hours to live. Pilar said about 40 doctors from teaching colleges came
to see her and study her body because they could not figure out why she was
still alive. They admitted that they had never seen this type of infection.
They said it was a form of gangrene and had spread throughout her entire body.
They hooked her up to tubes to drain the infection. Ten 5-gallon bottles later,
they still could not figure out what it was or what had caused this type of
infection. Pilar said it was the color of yellow egg yolks. She was in the hospital for three months because her gallbladder had also become infected.
Every day, for about three months, the doctors would come into her hospital
room and tell her that she had perhaps one more day to live.
“I prayed continually and asked God to heal
me because I had a new daughter to raise,” Pilar calmly stated.
In other words, she did not pray just for
herself so she could just live. She knew the importance of raising her
daughter. My ears have heard many testimonies from women over the years. And
many are yet so traumatized by the past, they can barely talk. Pilar’s Faith in
God was so deep that she might as well have been talking about a kitchen
recipe.
A second surgery was performed. The infection
was still in her body but not as bad. The tubes, that had been draining the
infection, had been in her for such an extended length of time that it hurt to
pull them out.
Pilar was told not to have any more children.
It was the doctor’s consensus that it was the pregnancy that had caused the
infection. Two years later she became pregnant again. The doctors insisted that
she have an abortion.
Like David, Pilar stood her ground. She said
no. She knew it was a miracle that she was even pregnant. Therefore, she was
going to have this baby. It was a costly decision. She broke out in hives all
over her entire body.
“I looked like a monster,” Pilar stated.
When it was time for the baby's birth, she
started bleeding extensively.
“I could hear the doctors saying that I was
going to die,” she said. “In my mind, I said no, I will not die. I kept praying
that God would allow me to live because I had two children now to take care
of.”
God heard. She lived. The doctors told her
husband to have a vasectomy.
Pilar and her husband had met and married in
the United States. He was also from Ecuador. After the second child was born,
he had started working for Dole Pineapple Company. After getting his bachelor's
degree, they moved back to Ecuador.
Life was normal for about 15 years. During
this time, they had established a relationship with a friend who was a doctor.
Pilar and her husband were godparents to his children. Suddenly one morning
Pilar woke up with a feeling as though something sharp was in her throat.
She thought it was her tonsils. This doctor
took her complaint seriously and sent her to a cancer doctor. The diagnosis came
back. She was in the last stages of throat cancer. And it was in the glands in
her throat. They did a biopsy. Rather than rely on anyone, Pilar said she went
to the pathologist to get her own report.
“I lied to get it,” Pilar said. “I wanted to
know for me.
She asked the doctor how long she had to
live. He stated three weeks. She said what about surgery. The surgeon told her
there was no hope. Pilar, the petite
Giant Killer, did not take no for an answer. After informing the surgeon
that God was her hope and the Lord has the last word, she insisted on having
the surgery.
She called a couple of members of her family,
of whom one is a deacon, to tell the family to be at her mother's home that
evening. The family came. Pilar called her dining room table the roundtable for
family conversations.
She still does this at her home in the senior
community in which she lives. Sometimes it is just girl talk. Sometimes it is
for bible study groups.
Pilar told the family about throat
cancer. Her pituitary gland was also infected. Stranger still, the doctors said cancer had started in her ovaries but spread to her throat.
Initially, the family wanted her husband to
send her back to the United States. Pilar said no. The doctors had informed her
that she needed a period of rest or she would bleed to death during the
surgery. She also told her family that the country did not matter.
She explained to the family that if the Lord
wanted her to be alive it would be so.
The
petite but gentle Giant Killer stood firm.
Unlike King David’s brothers, her family did
not mock her. They finally understood because she had raised them to know God.
They accepted her explanation. They prayed.
Talking to God was not strange to the family
because both Pilar and her husband utilized prayer in every situation whether
it was thanking God, or asking for help.
Privately, Pilar said she prayed to the Lord
for a message.
“I am going to open my bible,” she said she
told God. “Please show me, give me a sign because I still have daughters to
raise.”
He answered.
She opened her Bible. It was the book of
Isaiah, chapter 38, where Hezekiah was sick and about to die. God had heard his
plea and extended his life for 15 more years. However, there was something more
that God had the prophet tell Hezekiah.
Pilar picked up on this divine direction and
utilized it to heal her body thousands of years after this biblical miracle
with Hezekiah. In other words, God is unchanged in his love and care for those
who trust him and believe in him.
Hezekiah’s illness was due to boils. And the
prophet Isaiah had told him to make a plaster of figs and lay them on the
boils.
Pilar followed suit.
The next day after reading the Scripture she went to the Farmer's market.
However, figs were not in season. And in Ecuador, figs are usually used for
Passover.
Nevertheless, God was
in control. A lady whom she knew from years before called out to her that she
had figs. The next step was to prepare them.
People were available who would prepare them
for her. But, Pilar wanted to do it herself because it was God's message
specifically to her. She boiled the figs until they were soft like mashed
potatoes.
Remember, cancer had started in her
ovaries.
“I laid the plaster on my stomach that
morning and left it on all day,” Pilar said. “Then, I waited until my period
came.”
After getting ready for the surgery, her
friend the doctor said do not let them do a biopsy on the tumors on her ovaries
and the glands. At first, the surgeon refused to operate. Then for some reason,
he came back to Pilar and said that he didn’t know why, but he would do the
surgery. She also let him do the biopsy.
“Afterwards, I felt that literally, I had a
pain in my soul, just as her friend Otto had said,” Pilar said. “I started
crying. I didn’t know what to think.”
But God was still in control.
The surgeon who would perform her operation
always prayed prior to surgery, and for his patients before operating. After
the surgery was completed, the doctor told her there was literally a line
inside of her body, almost as though it had been drawn with a pencil. The
surgeon told Pilar that he took everything out below the line, including her
fallopian tubes, her uterus, and ovaries. After the surgery, all lab tests
showed that she no longer needed chemo for cancer. The cancer was gone.
Pilar recovered and raised her daughters.
Pilar returned to the United States. However,
she started feeling bad in her stomach area again. The doctors had told her
there was nothing wrong. Their diagnosis of her illness was that she was
emotionally suffering from the loss of her husband. She flew back to Ecuador.
“Again, I felt so sick,” she said. “It felt
like I was going to die, again.”
The doctors did a complete checkup. Her blood
pressure was okay. Her sugar levels were okay. They didn’t give up. They decided
that an endoscopy was needed to find the source of her pain. She stayed at her
brother's house. He was the only sibling still alive in Ecuador.
The procedure was recorded. The rest of the family was in a viewing room and could see what was happening.
The doctors discovered twenty polyps in her
stomach. The recording showed that when the doctor opened up her stomach, the
nurse made a face from the stench of the infection. The year was 2012. The
doctors could not understand how she had been able to get on a plane and fly to
Ecuador. The pressure alone could have caused the polyps to explode. They said
it was a miracle that she survived.
Pilar, the petite giant killer had no problem in telling them how she survived. She
emphatically stated that it was the Lord who had kept her. Once she was back in
the United States, Pilar tried to show the recording of the procedure to her
American doctors. They refused to even look at it.
She stayed in Ecuador for three weeks. They
gave her medication for six months because they knew the same medication was
not available in the United States. She revisited Ecuador in 2014.
During these times that her life was in jeopardy,
her faith never wavered. When asked did she ever wonder why she had to endure
so much, and did her family’s faith grow, Pilar responded as follows.
“I have believed since childhood that God
loved me,” Pilar stated. “They [the family] watched
my faith hold steadfast no matter what the situation was. Now as adults,
they tell me my faith taught them to do the same. However, if I were allowed to
ask God one question, it would be this. Why do people who are mean and selfish
seem to have a life void of pain.”
I understand her question. But, one thing
that I can declare as one who grew up without the benefit of instruction by a
true godly family. Her family’s dedication to teaching her about God when she
was a child made the difference in her trust in God.
Now 72, Pilar is still going strong despite
the enemy’s attempt to take her out. More so, her I.P.S. system simply got
stronger with each attack.
The knowledge of God is the fertilizer for
the I.P.S. system that is within every woman. For those who do not receive this
nourishment at an early age, the journey to complete reliance upon the I.P.S. the system is more perilous. In fact, sometimes it takes another Damascus Fall to
make God’s point clear about its necessity for this battle.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here is my review of "We Are One" found on my blog pages: Arlena's Book Reviews
http://arlenasbookreviews-arlenadean.blogspot.com
And on the other hand, Love is never:
envious, boastful, conceited, behave unbecomingly, self-seeking, provoked, or counts up wrongs and rejoices at evil hurtful things.
Now to get all the meaning to "We Are One" you will have to pick up the wonderful well-written read to get all that this author has presented so well to the reader. After each chapter, the author presents to the reader a study guide that gives you quite a few questions to discuss and think overlong after the read.
http://arlenasbookreviews-arlenadean.blogspot.com
Title: We Are One
Author: Muriel Gladney
Publisher: Booklocker.com, Inc.
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:
"We Are One" by Muriel Gladney
My Rationalization:
I really enjoyed reading "We Are One" by this author. This definitely gave the reader to truly understand 'in We Are One, women will understand why they have been pursued like prey." I loved the personal stories that this author delivered to us from "Pilar Garcia, Gwendolyn Madison, Mary Anne Cortus, Makeda, Liza G, and Sonja Ridewout."
The "author's prayer and hope are that the Word of God along with these true stories will inspire and encourage women to stand up and step into their ordained assignment and tell the devil, No More."
I loved this part of this beautifully written script that talks about 'What's Love Got to Do With it? Everything! "The following are eight things that Love does, and eight things that Love does not do:
Love is:
Love is:
"long-suffering, kind, bears all things, trustful, hopeful, patient, rejoices om triumph of truth and never fails.
And on the other hand, Love is never:
envious, boastful, conceited, behave unbecomingly, self-seeking, provoked, or counts up wrongs and rejoices at evil hurtful things.
Now to get all the meaning to "We Are One" you will have to pick up the wonderful well-written read to get all that this author has presented so well to the reader. After each chapter, the author presents to the reader a study guide that gives you quite a few questions to discuss and think overlong after the read.
