Holly Michael's Writing Straight

~ Connecting and Inspiring Along Life's Crooked Lines by Author Holly Michael

Holly Michael's Writing Straight

Monthly Archives: February 2015

The Devil Marked Him for Death…

07 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Holly Michael in Books, Christianity, Family, Holly Michael's New Releases, Holy Catholic Church - Anglican Rite, Inspiration

≈ 9 Comments

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Anglican, Bishop Leo Michael, dengue fever, Facebook, God, HCCAR, Heaven, Holly Michael, Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite, India, Jesus Christ, Leo Michael, marked for death, Miracle, nagapattinam, South India, Tsunami, tsunami 2004, Tsunami 2004 Still Wading Through Waves of Hope

I haven’t yet blogged in detail about that one heart-wrenching experience during our return trip to the 2004 tsunami-ravaged villages in Nagapattinam, South India.

My husband and I encountered many difficult situations and joyous ones too, but I’m writing today about the one that still nearly buckles my knees when I continue to hear statements like…

“The devil marked him for death.”

Or when a doctor friend recently said, “It is a true miracle the he survived a multi-organ failure.”

Or the heart tugging statements, said in several different ways:

“I prayed fervently.”

“I shed so many tears.”

“The spirit led me to pray deeply, like I’d never prayed before.”

(statements by even those I hardly know)

It gives me goosebumps, even now, almost three months later, when I think about what happened…in the spiritual sense of it all.

So…going back to late November 2014

…after my husband got bit by an affected mosquito.

…after we finished our mission work in Nagapattinam (my husband growing weak and feverish toward the end.)

…after we rode a bus for 12 hours from the remote villages in Nagapattinam with my beloved nearly lethargic from a spiked fever.

…after we arrived in a Bangalore hospital, my husband dehydrated with 103 fever.

…after the diagnosis of Dengue Fever (my sister-in-law died from dengue fever two years earlier).

…after we were left alone in a room with very little care.

…after I continued my attempts to communicate with the hospital staff that I didn’t think it was normal that my husband had swung from extremely feverish to unresponsive and almost completely cold (and they insisted he was fine).

…after the admitting Hindu doctor woke up in the middle of the night from a dream worried about my husband (one of maybe 200 patients she’d admitted that day) and called the ICU doctor to check on him.

…after he was rushed to the ICU blood pressure dropping and multi-organ failure.

…after I was stopped at the double doors to the ICU by a guard.

….after I sat in the empty hospital room in South India, alone, unable to communicate properly with hospital staff and no phone or means of communicating with anyone but God.

….after I’d finally got onto a hospital computer and asked for prayers through Facebook.

Which leads me to what I believe…

I BELEIVE….

…the heavenly realm, which is all around us always, was busy that night.

…the Holy Spirit touched the hearts of many to pray fervently after hearing my plea on Facebook (as many have testified).

…the Devil had slated my husband (a Bishop in the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite) for death.

…the prayers of the saints and all of the faithful allow me now to praise God for his full healing.

…Facebook is awesome and faithful friends and family are amazing. (I love you all).

…God is great, all the time, always!

I chronicled this experience and so much more from our trip to South India in my book, TSUNAMI 2004 – Still Wading through Waves of Hope. I share about the people and villages we visited and those we helped after the  2004 Tsunami, and the experiences upon our return, ten years later.

Ten years ago, after a major fundraiser, we went to the most devastated impassable villages in South India. My husband had a fabulous idea of asking the village headmen (hubby speaks the native language) to bring the orphans to the local bank. We established Bank CD’s in their names, so that ten years later, they would have funds to begin their lives–marriage, college.

Given the arranging of marriages and that the value of women is based on their dowry, the idea paid off literally in dividends.

I share these “then and now” stories and our experience in greater detail in TSUNAMI 2004 – Still Wading Through Waves of Hope. A percentage of the proceeds from the sales will go to support our continuing mission work in India. 

Some of our “then and now” pictures (the book also has more picture)

2004 Nagapattinam Harbor

2004 Nagapattinam Harbor

harbor now

harbor now

Nambiar Nagar boatmen discouraged, not wanting to go back to the sea. Boats are all destroyed

We had given funds to a man who owned a boat repair business. He put 50 people to work after the tsunami. Above, then...and now.

We had given funds to the man above on the left of my husband (in the blue shirt/khakis). The man owned a boat repair business, decimated by the tsunami. With funds we gave, he put 50 people to work after the tsunami. Some, (above in boat), after losing loved ones to the sea, did not want to go out and fish again.

Two friends (orphans) we'd helped then, and below now...

Two friends (orphans) we’d helped then, and below now…

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Some then photos….IMG_0975FH000002Long lines in Nambiar Nagar for foodIMG_0832Some now photos…

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Awestruck Sabeen looking at her picture then

Seeing herself in the photo from ten years ago

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Below, some of the orphans we helped then…Tsunami orphans 2004 who received CD Bank Accounts for approx. $230.And some of those faces now…
Tsunami orphans now

My deepest heartfelt thanks to all of you who helped with fundraising then and all of those who prayed for my husband and to those who also support my writing. Because of you all, we can continue to do the good works that the Lord has prepared for us to do and to go wherever and to whomever He leads us. 

*Special thanks to Roger Pierce, the husband of a Facebook friend, who happened to be in Bangalore, had been praying for my husband, and showed up at the hospital later and prayed with us. 

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To purchase Tsunami 2004 – Still Wading Through Waves of Hope (nonfiction)

Beautiful beach and sea

and

Crooked Lines (fiction), based on some tsunami experiences. (on sale for .99 Cents now)

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Weekend Stuff: Good Advice, a Sale, an Award, and Book Updates

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by Holly Michael in Award, Books, Crooked Lines, Inspiration, Jake Byrne, tsunami 2004

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Beauty and the Beast book club, Book Review, books, Crooked Lines, Dr. Seuss, february Pulpwood queen, February pulpwood queen book of the month, fiction, Holly Michael, Jake Byrne, nonfiction, Pulpwood Queen Book Club, tsunami 2004

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Also, Crooked Lines is on sale through the weekend for only .99 Cents. (Voted as Pulpwood Queen’s February Bonus Book of the Month!)  

Crooked Lines Pulpwood

Fifty-five, Five Star Reviews. Here’s one from Donna: Wow!!! This book is a must read. Rebecca lives in America on the shores of Lake Michigan and blames herself for her younger sisters death. She searches for meaning and truth in her life. She yearns to go to India. Sagai lives across the world from her in South India and leaves his poor family to become a priest. He tries through every test to draw closer to God. Rebecca feels that God let her down from the time of her sisters death and many other times in her life. Her choices are made based on her failing her sister. She visits a church because she can find no way out of it. They have a priest,who serves in India,who is friends with Sagai as a guest speaker. She tells him about wanting to go to India. Rebecca and Sagai become pen pals with this priest and pray for each other for many years. It’s amazing to see God working through their lives, and some of the similarities in their struggles. When we look back at our lives as we try to follow the path that God has for us or we take a different path we will see the straight path that leads to God was there all along. The crooked lines are where we took detours and God led us back. I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Honestly this book was so engaging I couldn’t put it down and I felt like God was speaking to me through it. This author has allowed God to use her as she shares spiritual truths through her writing.

Beautiful beach and seaAnd Tsunami 2004 Still Wading Through Waves of Hope (nonfiction) is available FREE on Kindle Unlimited and $2.99 on Kindle, $6.99 Print Version (Amazing stories from survivors then and now and how we survived a near death experience on our return to Nagapattinam, ten years later.).

Here’s a review from Larry: K. P. Yohannan of Gospel For Asia asked on one of his videos, “What did you do when you heard about the thousands of people swept away by the tsunami?” To be honest, most of us just watched the tragedy on TV, shrugged our shoulders, and did little else, but that is not so for the author and her husband.

“Tsunami 2004: Still Wading through Waves of Hope” records what Bishop Leo Michael and his wife Holly did upon hearing the tsunami news. They raised thousands of dollars and traveled to India with a friend to see for themselves where their funds could best be used. The areas they chose to visit were the three hardest hit areas in India.

Holly Michael’s crisp writing style reveals the heart-breaking calamity they witnessed, the hardships they faced, and her own personal fears about being on the ground in the midst of total devastation. Her willingness to reveal her own heart throughout the book helps us see through her eyes.

In 2014, Holly and her husband returned to the same regions of India to check out what happened to the people they helped. Some of the testimonies told of great victories, but a few revealed the despair victims felt a decade later. And then there was Bishop Leo’s life-threatening bout with dengue fever.

This is a five-star book and I believe everyone should read it.

*****

If you’ve read either of my books, I’d love a review!! CLICK HERE TO REVIEW CROOKED LINES. CLICK HERE TO REVIEW TSUNAMI 2004 – STILL WADING THROUGH WAVES OF HOPE

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If I don’t blog much in the next month, it’s because I’m busy finishing the sequel to Crooked Lines.

Several new releases in 2015! Yippee! And one to be published by Harvest House that this cutie (son, Jake Byrne) and I wrote together. Will be released in early August! Exciting stuff! I’ll update as we come closer to the date.IMG_1002

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Still Wading through Waves of Hope

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Holly Michael in Books, India

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Still Wading through Waves of Hope.

Wonderfully done blog by Silvia Villalobos about our 2004 Tsunami visits and what happened ten years later, returning to Nagapattinam.

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Holly Michael

Holly Michael

Done this: Regular freelance ghostwriter and online editor for Guideposts for Teens/Sweet 16 Magazine, creator/editor of a magazine for Wal-Mart Corp., journalist, newspaper features writer, published in a variety of national magazines and local newspapers, script writing/editing for corporations. Doing this now: author of fiction and nonfiction, blogger, and editor of Koinonia Magazine. I’m the wife of Rt. Rev. Leo Michael, an Anglican Bishop in the Holy Catholic Church-Anglican Rite. Mom to three great kids: Nick (#81 Rajin Cajuns), Betsy (Super cute professor) and Jake (T1D & NFL player) Also, enjoy my travels extensively across the United States and internationally.

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