BECOMING LOVE / The Mulberry Books (ePub)

Michelle Moore, a woman in her late thirties, is a data analyst, a devout Christian, a wife, and a friend. Finding herself in a routine job, a loveless marriage, and having a best friend that she has nothing in common with, she finds herself reflecting on the meaning of her life.

Angela Reynolds, her best friend since grade school, has been battling medical problems for years and finds out she is pregnant with a rare and fatal condition. Angela, wanting to keep the baby, seeks a second opinion.

Michelle returns home to catch Richard, her adulterous husband, and Angela, her best friend, in her bedroom packing to go and see a specialist to try and save the baby, his baby. Even more, devastating to Michelle is Richard told her he did not want kids when she desperately wanted to start a family.

In constant communication with God and through much anger and pain, Michelle struggles to understand and find the strength to heal, forgive, and move forward. Amid the pain of losing a husband and best friend, God calls her into a preaching ministry.

Reluctantly she turns to her pastor, Marc Collins, for guidance on marriage and ministry. Pastor Collins has been secretly sustaining a broken marriage with his wife finally issuing divorce papers. Being a fervent man of God, he struggles with the image he will send to his congregation if he submits to a divorce.

As she works with Pastor Collins, Michelle prepares for her call into ministry. At the same time, she must deal with gossip and rejection from some fellow church members and district church leaders who do not believe God calls female preachers.

In her search for a first sermon, she is instructed to address the congregation in love. She reflects on her need to forgive and love Angela and Richard after the pain and heartbreak they inflicted on her.

With full support from her pastor, she delivers a powerful trial sermon encouraging the congregation that in order to give the love of Christ, we must become the love of Jesus. A sermon that led to Angela giving her life to God.

Following her first sermon, Michelle embarks on a breathtaking courtship then marriage to Pastor Marc Collins. Her final big decision is a request from her new husband to quit her great paying job to work in the ministry full time with him. Being insecure from her previous marriage where Richard rarely stayed home or spent any time with her, she is afraid if she spends too much time with her new husband, he will eventually get tired of her and seek reasons to leave her alone. After some persuasion from her husband, she eventually overcomes her insecurities realizes how much he loves her.

In her journey to becoming love, Michelle had to not only learn to love herself and others, but she also had to realize how much she is loved by God, her family, and friends.