My novel Authentic Joy is now available on Amazon for $0.99 USD on Kindle or $0.00 Kindle Unlimited. Click here to read it now.
Authentic Joy is about dissonance. Dissonance in music theory occurs when there is a clash between two notes or tones. As a Christian, for many years I experienced an internal dissonance. There was the person that I wanted to be and then there was the person I actually was on the inside where nobody could see. I believe many believers have experienced this internal incongruity at one time or another. In a sense, there will always be a gap between what we espouse as Christians and where we are on the journey toward that Christlike ideal. That is normal. What I am talking about is something deeper. It is a deep sense that our internal reality does not accord with who we believe we are supposed to be right now.
I grew up in Trinidad, the home of carnival and bacchanal (drunken revelry and licentiousness). This was the culture that shaped my youth. Added to that, I was naturally a free-spirited person. I was a pleasure-seeker. As far as I knew, the aim of life was to experience and enjoy everything that it had to offer to the fullest.
Then, at the age of twenty, I made the decision to give my life to Jesus and started attending church regularly. I’m sure you can see the impending clash. I changed my external lifestyle rather suddenly but inside I was experiencing increasing levels of torment. Nobody else in my church seemed to be having this issue so I kept up the appearance of ‘normalcy’ for a few years until one day I cracked, and all hell broke loose. I unceremoniously exited my fake Christian life, followed my hedonistic tendencies full throttle and wrecked my life spectacularly.
Authentic Joy, is an autobiographical novel that chronicles twenty years of my life from discord to internal harmony. (Spoiler alert) God found me amidst the wreckage of my life. He pulled me out. I made a few discoveries along the way. I discovered that external behaviour modification is a dead end. I discovered that all men are flawed. I discovered that nothing less than a real encounter with Jesus can change those internal parts of our personality that are as familiar as our skin. I discovered that there is no greater joy than the fellowship of Jesus Christ. I discovered authentic joy in Christ.
To read more about my story get Authentic Joy now on Amazon for $0.99 USD on Kindle or $0.00 Kindle Unlimited. I promise you won’t be able to put it down 🙂.
Joyfully,
