The next turn of events were just as life-altering. For years, my father stormed heaven in hopes that I might get saved. This all occurred during the Charismatic Revival in the sixties and seventies. I didn’t come in willingly at first, but after a heart break my guard was down and I readily accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. Years later, this conversion had a wonderful effect on my teaching career much to my surprise. When I encountered any notorious individuals in class, they rarely became a problem because my personal history taught me there was something worthwhile in each student and I treated them accordingly. After my first three years at a parochial school, I was fortunate enough to be hired as an English teacher in the district where I enjoyed teaching for 25 years. Many good memories were made with a great team of teachers and some wonderful kids. Unfortunately, by the beginning of the twenty-first century, educational philosophy began to change. As a result, the Lord directed me to take an early retirement and begin writing. In the meantime, I worked part time in an area learning center where I recently finished another twenty years before retiring from teaching entirely. Regarding my experience as an author, I began to notice that frequently when I sat down to compose a letter, there was a flow and ease to whatever I was composing. Since it was generally concerning the Lord, I realized He was always giving me assistance. It could be equated with speaking to someone and suddenly receiving a download from the Lord. It was during the mid-eighties that the Lord allowed me to experience what goes on in the spiritual realm. This forced me to get closer to the Lord very quickly! I had no idea what was coming my way. Up to this point, walking with the Lord was a pleasant experience. But suddenly, I needed some major adjustments and a crash course in trusting the Lord. He taught me how to navigate some scary waters, but eventually things normalized. It was then that I began keeping a journal to record what I was learning in the spirit realm especially regarding spiritual warfare. These detailed records became the basis for my upcoming books. Not long after, the Lord revealed exactly what spirit was warring against me during the eighties. This encounter became the subject of my first book, Jezebel in Our Midst. It was a very common topic and there was no shortage of duplicates on the market. However, it was a good starting point and led to another level of instruction by the Lord. For the next decade and more, the Lord began an intense regimentation for my sorry soul . I had caused nothing but trouble when I first encountered this spirit in my church. It was probably a common response, but the Lord had no intention of leaving me there. The same situation cropped up again when I joined a new church and I knew there could be no repeat performance. I was to handle the situation His way. I knew I was expected to remain quiet, suffer myself to be wronged and keep the unity of the Spirit in the new church. Needless to say, there was a whole lot of dying to my flesh, but His grace really is sufficient! With Your Whole Heart is not just the lessons learned behind the scenes, but the beautiful and transformational results of trusting Him with my life!