This week I’m happy to introduce Pat Simmons. She’s a fellow member of Brave Authors, a collaboration of Christian fiction novelists.
Pat’s new book, Days Are Coming, is about a minister who receives an ominous message from God that spurs him to intercede on behalf the world’s children. It will be released on April 15, 2024.
An excerpt from the novel appears below.
Pat is a multi-published Christian romance author of forty-plus titles. She is a self-proclaimed genealogy sleuth passionate about researching her ancestors and casting them in starring roles in her novels.
She is a five-time recipient of the RSJ Emma Rodgers Award for Best Inspirational Romance: Still Guilty, Crowning Glory, The Confession, Christmas Dinner, and Queen’s Surrender (To A Higher Calling). Pat’s first inspirational women’s fiction, Lean On Me, with Sourcebooks, was the February/March Together We Read Digital Book Club pick for the national library system. Here for You and Stand by Me are also part of the Family is Forever series.
Her holiday indie release, Christmas Dinner, and traditionally published, Here for You, were featured in Woman’s World, a national magazine. Here for You was also listed in the “7 Great Reads That Help to Keep the Faith” by Sisters From AARP. She contributed an article, “I’m Listening,” in the Chicken Soup for the Soul: I’m Speaking Now (2021). Pat is the recipient of the 2022 Leslie Esdaile “Trailblazer” Award given by Building Relationships Around Books Readers’ Choice for her work in the Christian fiction genre.
As a Christian, Pat describes the evidence of the gift of the Holy Ghost as a life-altering experience. She has been a featured speaker and workshop presenter at various venues nationwide. Pat has converted her sofa-strapped sports fanatical husband into an amateur travel agent, untrained bodyguard, GPS-guided chauffeur, and administrative assistant who is constantly on probation. They have a son and a daughter.
Pat holds a B.S. in mass communications from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and has worked in radio, television, and print media for over twenty years. She oversaw the media publicity for the annual RT Booklovers Conventions for fourteen years. She is on the Christian Book Lovers Retreat (CBLR) board as a publicist. Visit her at www.patsimmons.net.
Sample read for DAYS ARE COMING
Chapter 1
For, behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say,
Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare,
and the paps which never gave suck.—Luke 23:29
I’m coming for the children, God whispered.
Jude Morgan stirred but didn’t open his eyes as he sank deeper under the covers. Nothing was going to rob him of his sleep. He hadn’t hit the bed before midnight for three days because of working overtime for Boeing, church meetings, and other commitments. Jude was determined to get a total of seven hours of sleep.
I’m coming for the children, God repeated.
Jude’s eyes popped open, looking to his left, then right in his dark bedroom. Was he dreaming? Did he hear a voice? The hum of his central air was ready to lull him back to sleep. Holding his breath, Jude remained alert but didn’t leave his bed. He questioned whether he heard right.
I’m coming for the children, God thundered.
The Lord’s disturbing edict caused Jude to jolt up. As a youth minister at Christ For All Church, Jude believed in praying and then taking the time to listen to Jesus.
He waited to see if the Lord would reveal a vision to understand the message better. Being one of God’s sheep and an intercessor, he recognized his Shepherd’s voice.
That wasn’t a warning or prayer request. Jude began to weep as he slid out of bed and dropped to his knees. If King David in the Bible could cry out to the Lord, then Jude had no shame. “Lord, what do you mean? Not the children.” He stared into the darkness, and God’s presence created a blinding light.
This world is increasingly wicked. Man has sacrificed the souls that I created and gave them to idols, inside and outside the womb, to Molech and Chemosh, the Lord said. Demons are waiting for their mutilated bodies to torture them.
With his face bowed in submission, Jude’s heart ached as the Lord mentioned the names prominent in the Bible for fake gods. If there was one thing God hated, it was idolatry—past and present.
In Biblical times, people would burn their children, including babies, alive to their pagan gods called Molech. King Mesa of Moab had offered his eldest son, a prince, in a burnt offering to Chemosh in front of his enemies to win a war he “ultimately” lost.
Who is sacrificing children? Jude thought. It was hard to visualize the brutality carried out throughout history.
Knowing his thoughts, God answered. The heart of man is wicked. They have become their own gods, butchering babies before they are born. Their souls are Mine! The room shook from the Lord Jesus’ anger, and Jude trembled in His presence. When they are born, they are realigning their sex. I am God, the Creator of Heaven and earth. I make no mistakes!
“God, have mercy on us,” Jude pleaded.
Men take innocent babies and use them for sex. They do not teach them about Me. Guns are their toys. They prostitute their children for money, drugs, and evil acts. I have been watching. God called out deeds done in darkness from the world.
“God, what can I do?” Jude pleaded for guidance.
Judgment has been set, God spoke, and then an unsettling quiet filled Jude’s bedroom. This was not good. He glanced at the time displayed on his phone: 2:32 a.m. After what he’d just experienced, how could Jude even think about falling back to sleep? His body told him to try.
A year shy of forty, Jude wasn’t married, nor did he have children, but a church member and single mother, Sinclaire Oliver, had three, and Jude spent time with them, mentoring her oldest son, Carlton.
His friends at church, the Addamses, and Franklins, were two married couples eager to start families. What did this mean for them?
Renewed with a mission, Jude began to pray. Yep, his spirit was too active to get a restful night’s sleep.
In his mind, he wondered who would repent and return to God.
To purchase: https://www.patsimmons.net/theintercessors
@COPYRIGHT 2024 Pat Simmons/Christian Reads Press
Featured by Chevron Ross
Follow these links for more about the Chevron Ross novels
Weapons of Remorse The Seven-Day Resurrection The Samaritan’s Patient
