Sharon Arpana Edwards

July 17 Memories

| Sharon Arpana Edwards

I have loved today’s date for seven years now. I was in prayer one morning in 2018 when I happened to open my eyes and look at my clock at 7:17. I sensed the number was significant, so I asked the Holy Spirit to show me what it meant.

I have shared the revelation in this video, but the gist is that the Holy Spirit led me to Genesis 8:4, where we are told that Noah’s ark came to rest on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. For this reason the Gregorian July 17 has a special place in my heart.

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Your Upcoming Swoon

| Sharon Arpana Edwards

A new book is coming quite soon.
I hope it will be a big boon
To your reading time.
It does have some rhyme
So prepare for your upcoming swoon!

The book is my maiden novella.*
Though it isn’t a jolly good fella
I hope it is good.
I wrote best I could
While guzzling down tea with vanilla.

The story recounts a world trip
That wasn’t a hop, jump, and skip.
My topmost priority
Was finding Superiority
Where the vice has its vile viselike grip.

My findings may shock you, dear reader.
I wish that the world had been meeker
But alas I did see
In country upon country
That pride rises up as the leader.

While wandering from clime to clime
As Odysseus did once upon a time
I also met folks,
Some gals and some blokes,
Whom I cannot describe all in rhyme.**

The dedication’s first line bears the name
Of the one who was twice my ex-flame,
A lover of levity
And fanboy of brevity—
My loquacity bears some of the blame.

So at least let it make me some moolah
With this, my forthcoming novella.
When it’s widely read
I’ll get me some bread
And spread it with golden Nutella.

*The manuscript was a novella when I composed this announcement. It’s a novel now but to quote David Copperfield, let it stand.

**Hence the prose.

(c) 2024 by Sharon Arpana Edwards. All rights reserved.

A Tenth Anniversary Edition

| Sharon Arpana Edwards

Today I celebrate ten years as a published author! I had hoped to release a commemorative edition of my first book to mark the occasion, but a hand injury decreed otherwise. God being rich in mercy, the hardcover edition of my latest book is now available on Amazon.

I’d be grateful if you could buy a copy of this new edition, or the previously released paperback, and leave a review on Amazon. That will introduce me to new readers—something every author needs! You may also want to check out my award-winning 100-day devotional.

If you decide not to purchase either book but would like to make a donation to my ongoing writing and ministry, here are the links. Thanks in advance, and now let me share a memory from the day I became a published author.

With my godson on June 29, 2013

I remember June 29, 2013 as though it were just last month. In fact, I’ve forgotten what I was doing on this day last month, but the events of that career-defining day from a decade ago are printed like a paperback in my memory.

One of these memories appears in the preface to the tenth anniversary edition of Pioneer Boulevard. If everything goes according to Plan B, as I am praying it will, the book will be out in July.

June 29, 2013 was a scorching Saturday in Los Angeles, with temperatures soaring well above 100 degrees. A friend who had driven 70 miles to attend the book launch wagged an accusatory forefinger at me and said, “You had to pick the hottest day of the year.”

“I’m from India, remember?” I replied, trying to ignore the moist beads trickling down my neck and back, and wishing I had worn a white cotton dress like my friend. Having never launched a book before, I was new to this—a pioneer, like my characters—and it reflected in my attire.

As I recollect how uncomfortable I was in my formal black dress and the new sandals that pinched, I am reminded afresh that being a pioneer is not always a comfortable experience. It’s usually the exact opposite, in fact.

If I could relive the day I became a published author, I would definitely wear a summer dress and sensible shoes. And there are myriads of things I would do differently in the decade since. Most of these things I will never be able to redo, so I only ask God to grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Something I long ago realized I could and should change was the order of the stories in this book. The first edition had opened with “A Thirtysomething Secret,” which I see as an introduction to the world of Pioneer Boulevard. My esteemed tutor in England, novelist Joe Stretch, shared this opinion, and I was sure my future readers would agree with us. Imagine my surprise when more than one reader remarked that the book should have opened with a different story.

With their genial feedback ringing in my ears, I decided to begin this edition with the story that seems to be a favorite with readers. Originally placed third, “Crocodile Tears” also happens to be the first I wrote chronologically, as well as the one from which I have quoted in the afterword to my latest work, There Once Was a Man Who Suffered: The Book of Job in Limericks.

Another change is the addition of a Q&A section at the end. These are questions I have actually been asked, mostly at author talks held at public libraries and such, but sometimes in private conversations too. My answers shed light not only on these ten stories but also on my writing process and writing in general. If some aspiring writer should find them helpful, I shall consider my labors rewarded.

—Sharon Arpana Edwards
Los Angeles, Calif.
June 29, 2023

(c) 2023 by Sharon Arpana Edwards. All Rights Reserved.

The Day of Second Chances: A Letter to My Mother

| Sharon Arpana Edwards

My dearest Mummy,

When I started writing my letter to you on this day last year, I did not know where to begin. But today I know exactly where to begin. I guess that itself is a sign of progress, and I know you’ll be happy. You’d never want me to stay trapped in my grief. You’d want me to make the most of this life I still have. I can’t say I’ve made the most of every minute of these last two years, but read on. Continue reading →

Beholding and Holding God’s Promises

| Sharon Arpana Edwards

When the proof copy of my new book arrived last week, one of the first people I texted was Rabi Maharaj, author of one of my all-time favorite books, Death of a Guru. His response to the cover image I’d sent was heartwarming.

Apart from warming my heart, Rabi’s text reminded me of the process of obtaining God’s promises. And it is a process. The Bible makes it clear that God’s promises Continue reading →

So Much to Say: A Letter to My Mother

| Sharon Arpana Edwards

My dearest Mummy,

Unbelievably, today marks one year since you left. There’s so much to say, I hardly know where to begin. Maybe I’ll start by telling you I am fine.

I mean, I am fine today. I have not been fine every day since May 5, 2021. My grief has literally made me sick.

The doctors ordered a bunch of tests to rule out heart trouble, but I could have told them I had heart trouble without the tests.

Broken-heart trouble.

I thought I knew what it’s like to lose a parent, but my grief for you has been unlike anything I’ve experienced before. For one thing, when I lost Papa I still had you.

I’ve never felt as alone as I did in the weeks after you left. But after my Father’s Day blog post the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to me from one of Jesus’ sayings in the Gospels. You’ll be glad to know I’ve held on to that word by faith all these months.

I just realized something about the verse the Holy Spirit had given me a few hours after your funeral. I didn’t know why I was being prompted to use Psalm 139:18 for my most heartbreaking Facebook announcement, but it resonated somewhere deep inside. Today, on this first anniversary of yours, I’ve finally made the connection.

It was also about not being alone!

Last year we had a memorial service on your birthday. As I was putting together a montage of your life for a video that week, I came across a picture of your wedding ceremony. You both are standing and the veil still covers your face, so perhaps it is just before your vows.

Your head is bent and I can’t read your emotions behind that veil. Maybe you’re nervous and happy and sad all at once. But my goodness, you look beautiful! You’re wearing that white Benares silk sari I loved, holding a wispy bouquet that almost reaches to the ground.

I can’t remember the bouquet, though. Did you give it to one of your sisters, hoping they’d be next? Or maybe you threw it away? You never liked fake flowers, so that wouldn’t surprise me.

My friends sent me some gorgeous fresh flowers in the days after you left. There were pale blue hydrangea, multicolored tulips, and red and white roses, three of each. You would have loved them all. I dried the roses and tulips, and saved the ribbons around the hydrangea.

I don’t need dried flowers to remind me of you. They’re to remind me of the kindness of friends in the saddest days of my life.

As for how our heavenly Father has been looking after me, I can’t even begin to count the ways. But you already knew He would. You had an unshakeable faith in Him, thanks to your loving earthly father. Life gave me a very different dad, but that story ended well as you know.

And because of the Lord’s mercy, this story ends well too. The story of this year since you left.

I still cry.

I still call your name at night.

I still reach for my phone to talk to you.

There’s still so much to say.

I still have a ways to go, but I’m getting better. The love of our Father, the wounds of our Savior, and the presence of our Comforter are steadily healing me.

And now the story of the new year begins. As a sign, today is the National Day of Prayer.

You know how much I’ve loved prayer since childhood. But I’m sorry to tell you, in this last year I’ve often regretted spending those precious moments of our last earthly conversation praying for you instead of thanking you for the gift of life and faith and your sacrificial love.

But on this National Day of Prayer, I am putting that behind me. Today I am choosing to be thankful that in those final hours of your earthly life we were together in our Father’s presence, as we’d been so often in the past. It was His gift to us.

Someday we’ll once again be together in our Father’s presence. There’s so much to say, and we’ll have all the time to say it.

Until then, as Little Fellow used to say, I love you beyond Pluto!

Sharon

PS – Last year on this day, I found this while going through your Facebook photos. Seeing the date made me weep last year. Maybe next year, if the Lord lends me life, it will make me smile.

(c)2022 Sharon Arpana Edwards. All rights reserved.

A Eulogy for My Mother

| Sharon Arpana Edwards

Author’s Note: If you find this post helpful, please consider purchasing a copy of There Once Was a Man Who Suffered, the book I wrote after my mother passed, or any of my other books. Thank you. The rest of this post was published on June 12, 2021.

This is the eulogy I gave at my mother’s memorial service a few hours ago. I have made some minor edits and added links to the Scripture passages quoted and the video commemorating my mother’s life.

On behalf of my family, I want to thank each of you for joining us today. We are grateful for your presence and for the many comforting messages we have received since our beloved mother went home to be with the Lord on May 5. Thank you.

Writing the eulogy for Lalita Edwards is at once easy and difficult. Easy because of her exemplary character and well-lived life, and difficult because she was my mother and this is yet another reminder that I will not see her again this side of eternity. There’s a reason the Bible describes death as the last enemy.

My mother was the epitome of the virtuous woman depicted in Proverbs 31. She was wise, generous, compassionate, hardworking, and faithful. Above all, Continue reading →