For as long as I can remember, I've loved God, writing, and telling stories. I was brought up in a home where God was the Center of everything. My grandmother whom we lived with was a pastor.  Our church started out in the basement of our home. Needless to say, there was never an excuse for missing service - my siblings and I just had to walk downstairs. One would think that at playtime the furthest thing from our minds would be church - not the case. When we had free time, my brothers and I would play church. I was always voted the pastor and they were the deacons and congregation. After I preached, they took offerings and I pocked their pennies to pay the bills. After church, mock chicken dinners were served which consisted of 'Mary Janes, potato chips and squirrels.' Though I loved God with all of my heart, I never envisioned being a minister of the gospel - let alone writing Christian books. But in 1994 I answered the call of God on my life and I attended a two-year ministry school. I continued preaching and was ordained a couple of years later. On the writing side, I always kept journals. From the time my children were young until teenagers - I would make up stories to tell them. I believe I enjoyed my imagined tales more than they. It just amazed me at what I could come up with. I didn't recognize it at the time - but God had placed an anointing on me to write and I didn't know it. Prior to this book, I wrote another but no one showed any interest to publish it -- yet. This book of praise is just a testimony of the faithfulness of God. I am so excited at what He's doing in my life. One of the things I so vividly remember about my conversation with God regarding books was this. God said "There are those who will go to a bookstore, but won't go to church. Because of your obedience to write, their hearts will be softened - they will be saved - and church will follow." I don't take writing lightly. It is serious and God has given me a passion for it. To know that someone has been snatched from the gates of hell because of something you wrote, is a pretty awesome thing. Of all the books I'm currently working on, it's no fluke that the one on Praise is the first one published. To be honest, this didn't start out as a book. It was something I did in my personal time with God. The whole concept was birthed out of my intimate time with Him. I'm as surprised as anyone else of His request to put in writing what I did privately. Even the cover is a reminder of His wonderfulness. When I first saw it, I was moved to tears. I didn't quite know why - I thought initially it was because it was the first book of mine that was in print. Not so.  After I left my Publisher's office and went home, I couldn't help staring at the cover asking Holy Spirit why I was so stirred when looking at the cover.  No immediate answer came so I just moved on to something else. But then I began to praise God for the "vision coming to pass," I took a familiar stance to praise and Holy Spirit whispered "do you see how you're standing?" I answered "Yes?" His reply was "No - do you see how you're standing?" I was puzzled because "what did how I was standing" have to do with praising Him. Then I got it, my stance in private praise was emulated by the girl on the cover. No one knew that but my Precious Three (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit) and me.  So when I look at that cover, I'm reminded that what we do privately - God rewards openly. If you were to ask what motivates me most, unequivocally I would tell you - "it's the love of God."