Monday, November 4, 2019

Wanted by Ellis Lucas


I hope everyone made it through Halloween with getting tricked or treated. After my scare with my heart, I think I am slowly returning to normal although I am still extremely ill. I know, the blog must go on. On a serious note, I took the downtime to get much-needed rest and spent most of the weekend in bed reading. When I am ill, it doesn't mean I sleep and I can only watch so much television. This last weekend had me focusing on my faith. I questioned, "How can I be so sick?" I didn't want to move and then you know how your mind starts to question everything -- even God. Fortunately for me, I had the book Wanted by Ellis Lucas to keep me busy as his words healed my thoughts. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is suffering and for those who are struggling with their faith. This book will touch your soul. Thank you, Ellis, for sharing it with me. Now take a look at the book and then read the author's interview.

ABOUT THE BOOK


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The Potter and the Clay, and Wanted deal with one of the greatest humanitarian crises of modern times, the human suffering left in the aftermath of addictions and postmodernism. Namely, abuse, abandonment, isolation, loneliness, depression, and suicide that far too many people now have endured. My books reflect those profound learning lessons that so many people struggle with regarding how deferring to Jesus Christ will indeed serve as our one true life preserver when sinking in the murky waters of hopelessness. But also, the empowering we can experience when we put our trust in Him who suffered for us all - and sincerely from the heart. In this empowerment - we are enabled to overcome impossible situations, pain, sin, and failures.



Hope is the Lord’s spiritual stimulant that turns joy to strength, while absolution through Him exonerates our conscience of guilt, bringing healing to our bruised and often severely broken hearts. God can replant, nurture, and cultivate the essential seeds for purpose and passion deep inside our sanctity, restoring perpetual meaning through the accumulation of life’s heartbreaking wounds and adorning scars.



These precious crowning jewels reveal an irresistible never before seen beauty deep within our own sanctity, like a handwritten letter from God, addressed to the world and engraved on the tablets of our hearts, a story that is designed to immortalize the culmination of that for which we all were born and created to fulfill.  



“My story is one of great pain,” says Ellis, “and also great healing. Moreover, my strong belief is that suffering has been my greatest teacher through the eyes of perspective and was undoubtedly the gateway to the transformation that occurred in my life and can be for others - as God's gift not only to us as individuals, but to inspire us to INSPIRE OTHERS and INSPIRE the world!” These books will leave you awe-inspired and uplifted as you discover that you, too, are loved and known, that you are invaluable and very much needed for such a time as this. That you belong and above all, you are WANTED!







Tell your readers a little about yourself, where you grew up, where you live now, where you went to school etc. Let them get to know the personal you.


I was born at Cameron, Missouri in a record November midwestern snowstorm and split my early childhood between our family farm just east of Lathrop, Missouri where I was a proud Lathrop Mule until I turned nine years old. From there we move north to the tiny town, Stanberry, Missouri, the home of the Bulldogs where I was a first-team starter in football and baseball and one season as a backup point guard on our basketball team. Sports was the one place where I felt a sense of belonging after the move from our family farm at Lathrop, Missouri, the community I loved so much. I struggled to let go of the only home and people I had ever known and missed it even more when acclimating to my new surroundings proved to be impossible for a confused young adolescent. I was soon overcome by a dark cloud of confusion and unmanageable destructive emotions that led to a tumultuous childhood and nearly destroyed my life entirely by my early twenties. And while I didn't recognize the symptoms at the time, I began to suffer significantly from depression as a result of a lonely childhood plagued by emotional trauma, and a life dominated by the then mysterious feelings of rejection, fear, and abandonment, resulting in countless trials and heartbreaking circumstances, including years of drug and alcohol abuse, depression, divorce, and in time, complete and utter hopelessness.


What inspired you to author this book?


Since the release of The Potter and the Clay, my autobiography in 2014, I’ve heard the cries of the forgotten members of society, I feel the unending pain, and I’ve seen tears flowing out from the depths of human despair where comes the issues of life pouring out from the heart fed reservoirs. Hearts cut deep and badly broken by the realization of the high cost and consequences of moral compromise. So today, when I hear the word wanted, I think about a world of broken human lives, wounded and forsaken, abandoned and rejected, abused and isolated, feeling unloved, unwanted, and hopeless. And while the emotional stress of this present dark age is genuine and, at times, mentally overwhelming, nothing could be further from the truth.

Howbeit, people are bound by so many things, but nothing more gripping than fear and confusion. It can leave us mentally exhausted, alone, and severely affect the way we relate to other people. The more we struggle with negative emotions and self-doubt, the more we allow our insecurities to call the shots. We are robbing the world of something beautiful, the men and women God created us to be. We limit our potential and hinder the Holy Spirit from fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives. Additionally, we prevent ourselves from becoming the men and women this world needs us to be.

So, Wanted deals with an ever-increasing epidemic of human suffering, namely people who've had their foundations pulled out from beneath them through addictions, rejection, abuse, abandonment, and suicide. Ordinary people who've been overcome by a title wave of destructive human emotions, who honestly believe they are hopeless. Others lost their way, got entangled in some addictive vice, and are either too afraid or too ashamed to ask for help, much like what I encountered during my early life.




Where did you get the inspiration for your book’s cover?


While there were a few different cover designs, which explains the variety of WANTED covers displayed on my Goodreads page. This was the only design that we felt even remotely captured the essence of what this book contains between the covers. WANTED reflects those profound learning lessons that so many people struggle with regarding how deferring to Jesus Christ will indeed serve as our one true life preserver when sinking in the murky waters of hopelessness. But also, the empowering we can experience when we put our trust in Him who suffered for us all - and sincerely from the heart. In this empowerment - we are enabled to overcome impossible situations, pain, sin, and failures.






Who has been the most significant influence on you personally and as a writer?


Well, I would have say, Jesus Christ, and my magnificent wife, Peggi Sue. Peggi represents the immeasurable depths of God’s riches, both His wisdom and knowledge and through her came the inspiration, the eyes, faith, and spiritual discernment to both see and interpret the vision concerning my personal testimony. She was the real inspiration behind me becoming an author on this journey that has taken us throughout Missouri to South Dakota, and from there to Southern Colorado where we have witnessed God fulfill her vision as though He had given her a script to read it from. My story has brought hope and healing to other broken lives resulting in the founding of His Heart United, a now Missouri and Colorado not for profit organization. My story has been featured on television, radio, and even in the songs I write and record. Three of which were recorded with members of Kelly Clarkson's and Mandisa's band and can be heard free of charge on my media page at ellislucas.com.



What were your struggles or obstacles you had to overcome to get this book written?


It was, indeed a struggle at times. Over the past two years, I've learned some hard and, at times, heartbreaking lessons regarding various promises, or idle words might be a better term for it, and sadly from people within the Christian community, and where it concerns the publishing industry.

Wanted, took two years and three potential publishing companies before we finally release it ourselves. And with the new Potter and the Clay now rewritten with two brand new chapters and eleven thousand new words, sitting here on deck and just praying for the right publishing company, I needed to make sure I found the right home for publishing WANTED, especially with the third book in this collection already and on deck as well.



Tell your readers about your book.


These books will leave people awe-inspired and uplifted as they discover that they, too, are loved and known, that they are invaluable and very much needed for such a time as this. Some people are somewhat stunned to learn there is a value within their suffering, that their lives are no mistake, they are here because they belong, and above all, they are WANTED!
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the pitch-black night of suffering and adversity.” Hope is the Lord’s spiritual stimulant that turns joy to strength, while absolution through Him exonerates our conscience of guilt, bringing healing to our bruised and often severely broken hearts. God can replant, nurture, and cultivate those essential life seeds deep inside that produce both purpose and passion, the light of men which validate our sanctity, restoring meaning through the accumulation of life’s heartbreaking wounds and adorning scars.

These precious crowning jewels will in time reveal an irresistible never before seen beauty deep within our individual sanctity, like handwritten letters from God addressed to this storm-tossed ravaged world, engraved on the tablets of our hearts. Every life was created to tell a story and was designed to immortalize the culmination of that for which we all were born and created to fulfill.

“My story is one of great pain,” says Ellis, “and also great healing. Moreover, my strong belief is that suffering has been my greatest teacher through the eyes of perspective and was undoubtedly the gateway to the transformation that occurred in my life and can be for others - as God's gift not only to us as individuals, but to inspire us to INSPIRE OTHERS and INSPIRE the world!”





Who is your target audience, and why?


I would recommend this book as a source of encouragement for those who've been hurt or emotionally wounded, as well as the prodigals and those waiting for them to return home. WANTED is a timely resource for healing and restoration for today’s lost and broken generation.



What do you consider your greatest success in life?


I suffered greatly from the emotional effects of rejection and abuse that resulted in years of drug and alcohol addictions. I hated everything about me and despised the person I had become. And when facing what would have been a lengthy imprisonment after an intense drug raid on March 6, 1997, only then did I realize the severity of the damage caused by emotional trauma.

It was a devastating culmination to a twenty-four yearlong drug and alcohol addiction and a life so utterly ruined that even I saw no hope of ever recovering to live a normal life again. It was an egregious misconception of reality. What I've learned since, and what would have to be my greatest success in this life, is trusting in Christ and discovering how our greatest failures can also effectuate the undisclosed catalyst that empowers some of life's most unsuspecting people to accomplish some of life's most extraordinary things.



What one unique thing sets you apart from other writers in your genre?


People are like snowflakes, there are no two alike. However, what I believe makes my life unique in the eyes and understanding of so many people is how my life represents the most extreme ends of two completely different destinies. I have literally been among the most extreme examples of hopelessness, and one of the greatest examples of redemption and total transformation. Christina Bannister said this about my life.

While he never envisioned becoming an author, Ellis Lucas is a natural-born storyteller nonetheless. And in an age where it feels like everyone, even the most inconsequential of public figures and celebrities, feels compelled to chronicle their life’s journey in memoir form, Ellis Lucas’s biography The Potter and the Clay and it’s highly anticipated follow up book Wanted aren’t yet another ho-hum account of a few of humanity’s shared experiences. Ellis’ story is raw, yet compelling; it reaches down to the gutter of human despair and rises to the height of divine providence. It’s a gritty, real-life story of pain and utter transformation. A riveting and transparent page-turner chronicled in the pages of his nail-biting true autobiography. A true story filled with love and betrayal, a veritable mountain of loss, and eventually, sweet redemption. The Potter and the Clay and Wanted also offers a powerful takeaway, namely that no matter how far someone feels from salvation, hope, change and, yes, even total renewal is never out of reach.
“Through everything, broken relationships, addiction, anger, rejection, spending weekends in different county jails has taught me an invaluable life lesson, namely how there is no human life beyond God’s infinite desire and enduring passion to love and to know,” Ellis shares. “There’s also no situation, pain, sin or failure beyond His desire to forgive, heal and restore if we are willing to humble ourselves in true Biblical repentance and meet God on His own terms.”

My life was so destroyed that even I had no hope of ever recovering to live a reasonably healthy life again. But while locked up for a day in the Clay County Missouri Jail, at the end of life as I knew it, Jesus Christ stretched out His mighty hand of grace made Himself known along with an astonishing revelation. God loved me and had an amazing plan for my life if I would open my heart and receive Him that day. I did, and what happened next is a message I want the whole world to hear!

“Nobody is ever without hope, Melissa!”