My life is quite busy - it's filled with my family, my church life, my work life, my favorite hobby (writing), and most importantly, God.


I grew up in Glasgow, Kentucky, a town of about fourteen thousand people in the south-central part of the state. I have seven brothers and sisters, ranging in age from eleven to thirty-seven. My siblings are now spread out across Kentucky and Tennessee, and I returned to Kentucky three years ago after living in Louisiana for the previous five years.


-------------------MY HUSBAND-------------------

My husband, our two babies, and I moved to Louisiana in 2001. We thought we moved there because we liked the area’s rich food, Cajun culture, ethnic diversity, and warm weather. We were tired of the cold winters in the southern Indiana/northern Kentucky area where we lived and worked. Shortly after we moved, my husband realized God has plans for him. After a brief battle of “are you sure this is what you want me to do, God?”, my husband surrendered to the ministry and enrolled at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. It took awhile for me to adjust to being a minister’s wife, as I often missed my husband while he was out doing God’s work. But I knew he was obeying God, and that far superseded our temporary time crunch while he juggled the responsibilities of becoming a part-time minister (and later a full-time pastor) while also being a wonderful husband and doting father.

God brought us back to Kentucky through a unique set of circumstances (a combination of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which affected the seminary, and also a health problem my husband faced). We've loved being closer to family so we can visit them more often. My husband is still going to school (taking one class at a time to complete his master's degree from seminary), and he's a full-time pastor. We have a wonderful church family, a nice school for our children, and a city that's the perfect size for all our needs. We feel completely at home, and I pray we stay here until God calls us to Heaven!


-------------------MY CHILDREN-------------------

My husband and I have two children, ages eight and nine. I call them “my little angels”, and I often tell them as I put them into bed each night they are my gifts from God. My nine-year-old daughter is, in the words of a down-home Kentuckian, the “spittin' image” of me. People say she looks like me, talks like me, and sometimes she even thinks like me! She and I have had many deep theological discussions. A case in point from an earlier point in her life:
“Mommy, does Jesus live in your heart?”
“Yes, Sweetie, he does.”
“Does Jesus live in everybody’s heart?”
“No, Sweetie. Only the people who have asked Jesus to come into their heart because they love Him.”
“So everybody doesn’t love Jesus, Mommy?”
”No, not everyone loves Jesus.”
“Well, that’s not very nice!”
Ah, from the mouths of babes…

My eight-year-old son is the miniature version of my husband, at least as far as his physical appearance. But our son has a personality that is uniquely his. And, I mean unique in the kindest way a mother can say. He’s a very loveable, sweet boy. But, the summer before our son turned two, the terrible twos descended upon him, bringing craziness to our otherwise calm home. I thought the term “terrible twos” was just a joke until I had kids of my own. Now I know better. Everything made my son mad, mad enough to have a screaming, throw-yourself-down-in-the-floor, beat-the-walls-with-your-fists kind of tantrum. I apologize to every grocery store shopper and library patron who was ever within earshot of one of those tantrums! Oh, the days I prayed, no, begged, for patience. But God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. I bore the terrible twos and I came out on the other side, more in love with my little boy than ever. When he looks up at me with his big, brown eyes, oh-so-thick eyelashes, and little upturned nose, I melt. I absolutely melt. He is his father’s son. I see his personality emerging and growing, and I look forward to seeing him some day become a loving husband and father. Yes, I'm already hoping that some day I'll get to have grandchildren! (Can you tell I love kids?)

After having two children who are so opposite from each other I would fear one had been switched at birth if they didn’t look so much like my husband and me, I now know Jeremiah 1:5 is so true. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...” (NIV). God makes all His children unique, and He has a plan for each one of us. God has a plan for both my children, and He has designed their personalities, abilities, and wishes to fit those plans. I am SO lucky that He gave them to us to raise, and I pray daily for God to help me be the best parent I can be for them.


-------------------MY WRITING-------------------

God also designed me according to His plan for me, and I've felt for many years that part of His plan for me is to write books, in addition to the other responsibilities I have in my life. I think God has given me many unique characteristics that lend themselves well to writing. He gave me the personality to always ask questions and want to know about everything and everyone. My mother says I was the most stubborn, head-strong child she had. I prefer to think God made me strong-willed and thick-skinned so I could be equipped to keep writing even if the world didn't love every word that I might write. Plus, I think my strong will got me through those hard teen years that we all face:).

I know that God gave me a love for writing. I don’t mean a casual “oh-I-enjoy-writing” kind of feeling. I mean, the kind of love that when you talk about writing, your heart begins to race, your breath begins to quicken, and you can almost hear the blood pulsing in your ears. When someone asks me about my writing, it’s as if someone asks me to share what I love the most about this world (the exception being my children and my husband). God blessed me with such a passion and excitement for writing that I used to get up at 5:00 each morning, and while the world was dark and quiet, I would talk to God and ask for inspiration to pour out the words He wants me to share with the world. I'm working on getting back to that regular writing schedule. Having a couple of hours to meditate on God's Word, pray, and then write was always a wonderful way for me to start each day before going to my office. 


-------------------MY FIRST NOVEL-IN-PROGRESS-------------------

God gave me an idea for a story about thirteen years ago (before I became a wife and mother) about a family who grew up in Kentucky. These characters started popping into my head and demanded I write a story about them. I, being in my late teens/early twenties then, thought that was crazy. I thought God wouldn’t tell someone like me to write a book - I was too young, I didn't have time, I had no formal training in writing, etc. After graduating from college, I had a few false starts on my book. I’d write a few days in a row and then put away “my people” for days, weeks, or even months at a time. Then when I was pregnant with my first child, I decided I was going to finish the book once and for all. I finished it, sent it out to a few secular publishers, and managed to get real interest from the smallest of the ten publishing houses I had contacted. They wanted to talk about publishing my novel, but I was in the final stages of my pregnancy (and on bed-rest at that time – God somehow kept both my husband and me sane through that season in our lives:). I decided it wasn’t the right time to have a book published since I had a baby on the way. Oh, how little I realized just how right I was about that…My precious baby girl, like most babies, wasn't too crazy about sleeping all through the night, no matter how much I asked her to!

Flash forward several years later. I told God I wanted to know His plan for my life and I wanted to follow Him. Every time I prayed to Him, I felt Him saying “Write, Melissa. Write My message”. Me, being a “doubting Thomas”, thought how convenient I pray to God and then I think He just happens to tell me to do the one thing I’ve enjoyed the most (but wouldn’t take the time to really do). Finally, after months of going back and forth with God, I decided I wasn’t making up the command to write. It really was from God. I pulled out my old story, dusted it off, and found many mistakes in it. The biggest mistake was the story had entertainment value but nothing else. God told me to write His message. So how could I do that with fiction, and specifically with the characters who were still milling about in my head? I prayed and prayed. Slowly, the answer came. This novel would tell the story of a Kentuckian family who was very similar to most people all over the world – they have fears and insecurities along with good days and bad. They try to accept themselves and the rest of their family members. But most importantly, they try to discover meaning for their lives as the novel progresses. Don’t we all want to know the meaning for our lives? Don’t we all want to know why we’re here?

God showed me how this family had so much more than one book’s worth of story to tell. I thought their story might turn into two or three books. However, after it was all “said and done” (God said it; I’m in the process of doing it), this same family had FIVE novels’ worth of story. “Okay, God,” I said. “If this really is from You, then I’ll write it. All five books of it.” I wrote out the plans God had laid on my heart (or my head, however you want to refer to this writing process). As I have my "alone time" with God, I'm trying to reserve some time to write as well.

Please forgive my bragging, but the second book in this series was a semi-finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers (www.acfw.com) 2005 Noble Theme contest. The news couldn’t have come at a better time – I really wanted confirmation of my calling and a way to boost my self-esteem in my writing capabilities. I still have a lot to learn (as all of us writers do), but it was so encouraging to me for a group of professional writers to indicate I’m at least on the right path with my writing!

Since 2005, my writing has been a "hit and miss" activity during our move back to Kentucky, my working over-time while my husband went to several specialists to improve his health, and our relocation to another part of Kentucky when my husband returned to full-time ministry. Please pray that I can eliminate any distractions and get back into a daily writing routine after my Bible study and quiet time with my Lord.

-------------------MY BOOKS-------------------

I hope that some day, you can check out the “Books by Melissa” link on this site to see details about the first novel in my upcoming 5-book series. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as to when and how you can find this heart-warming and inspirational series of this Kentucky family I earlier mentioned. Also, I'll keep you updated on the next series I have planned, which is in the genre of “chick-lit” about a pastor’s wife and her zany adventures as she becomes more spiritually mature. Meanwhile, if you have children or if you know any children, I have also begun "roughing out" a collection of children's books I hope to publish eventually as well.


-------------------MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD -------------------

I accepted Christ as my personal Savior and Lord on August 3, 1986, at about 1:45pm. And yes, I can vividly remember the exact moment! My life has never been the same! The biggest change was being able to start healing from the difficulties of life. If you would like some words of encouragement, check out my personal “Healing Notes” section on this site which further explains my relationship with God. Or, even better, see what God has to say to you directly. Pick up your copy of God’s Holy Word and learn from the Master.