Fruits of the Soul 1: A Collection of 30 Stories Which Proves That God's Words Are Not Wasted But Richly Rewarded

By Delroy Constantine-Simms

The Fruit of the Soul is a collection of more than 30 inspirational stories based on the biblical term "Fruit of the Spirit" edited by D. Constantine-Simms, In summary this book sums up the nine visible attributes of a true Christian life, which are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Moreover, Fruit

• Language: English
• Publisher: Think Doctor Publications
• Release date: Nov 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781684183753

Delroy Constantine-Simms

Delroy Constantine Simms C. Psychol; MSc Occupational and Organizational Psychology; BA (Hons) Social Sciences; BSc (Hons) Psychology; Constantine-Simms has previously taught sociology, psychology, at the Open University; The University of Stirling; Westminster College; and Barnet College. He is also a freelance print and photo journalist, whose work has been published in The Voice Newspaper, Black Britain, The Post, The Gleaner, Miami Times, The Amsterdam News, Pride Magazine. His photos have been distributed through photo agencies such as Demotix, Corbis and Getty images. He is a regular contributor on several radio and TV stations, including the BBC, Channel Four, BBC Radio 1, Three Counties Radio, and has been featured in the Guardian and cited in the Mirror, The Evening Standard, The Metro, Constantine-Simms has presented academic papers in Germany, South Africa, The USA, Jamaica, Gambia, and Ethiopia on a variety of psychology and sociology related topics.He is also the recipient of the 2001 Lambda Book Award for Best Anthology (The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities). Mst recently, received two Black Excellence Awards (Middle East) Best Photographer Award (2021), and Best Author Award (2021) after writing and editing two consequential books, #Take A Knee Political Awakening of Colin Kaepernick, and The Brazilian Covid Catastrophe. He currently lives in the United Arab Emirates.See https://www.betterhelp.com/delroy-constantine-simms/

Book preview

About The Editor

Delroy Constantine-Simms is a UK registered Counselling Psychologist and a qualified Therapeutic Career Coach. Constantine-Simms has previously edited the following books and Co-edited Teachers for the Future (1995) The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities (2001) Hip Hop Had a Dream: Vol. 1 the Artful Movement (2008) Constantine-Simms is the recipient of the 2001 Lambda Award for Best Anthology for his book: The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities (2001). He is also as freelance print and photojournalist, whose work is regularly submitted and distributed by photo agencies such as Corbis Images and Demotix. His articles and images have appeared in British and international publications such as the Word (Canada) The Big Issue, The Guardian, The Voice Newspaper, Miami Times, and many other publications. He is currently pursuing part time academic study at the University of Oxford (UK)Other Books By Think Doctor Publications

Paperback Books Author

Constantine-Simms has previously edited the following books:

•      Fruit of the Soul 1 (2015)

•      Rice & Peas for The Soul 4 (2015)

•      Rice & Peas for The Soul 3 (2015)

•      Rice & Peas for The Soul 2 (2015)

•      Rice & Peas for The Soul 1 (2014)

•      The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities (2001)

•      Hip Hop Had a Dream: Vol. 1 The Artful Movement (2008)

•      12 Years A Slave

•      Behind the Scenes

•      Thirty Years a Slave, ...

•      Incidents in the Life of a Slave...

•      Fifty Years in Chains

•      From Bondage to Freedom

•      Hearts and Minds (Vol. 1)

•      Hearts and Minds (Vol. 2)

Think Doctor Publication

E-Books by

D. Constantine-Simms

How to Get Motivated

How to Plan for a New Career

How to Develop Unstoppable Confidence

Have You Ever Though About Being a Life Coach?

Successful Interviews: Making the Most of the Interview.

The Interview Guide: A Job Interview Is No. Different Than Finding the Right Partner.

The Structure and Application of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

How to Think Critically.

Mentoring as a Workforce Development Strategy.

The Counselling Process in Six Stages: A Basic Guide for Psychologists Counsellors and Psychotherapists.

Linking Emotional Intelligence to Effective Leadership.

Stress Management.

A Critique of Executive Coaching Through the Psychodynamic Window.

Otto Kornberg’s Theory of Personality: Pathological Narcissism and Borderline. Personality Disorders.

Personality Development and Confidence Building.

The Psychology of the Courtroom.

How to Improve Your Communication Skills.

How Employment Assessment Centres Work.

Putting The Va Va Voom Back into Your Career!

Table of Contents

About The Editor

Think Doctor Publication

Introduction

The Bus Ride

I Can Sleep When The Wind Blows

The Seven Jars

The Girl With Four Boyfriends

A Basket of Water

God’s Wife

Life is Like A Cup of Coffee

God’s Under The Bed

The Master’s Hand

How Much Does A Prayer Weigh?

The Folded Napkin

The Table Cloth

Carl’s Garden

A Slice of Life

An Aussie Story

An Inspiring Prayer

Angel on The Highway

Becoming Little Children

A Story of God VS Science

God Created The teacher

From The Desk of God

God’s Wings

Is Packaging Important?

Jesus Cut A Deal With Satan

Jesus and The Mud Puddle

Police in The City

Memo From God

The Barber

The Devil’s Convention

Teach Me To Forgive

What God Did With 57 Cents?

The Pastor’s Son

Telling God To Get Out

Funny...?

NASA and The Bible

Your Angel

Christmas Wish

Florida Courts Sets a Theist Holy day!

Noah in Modern Times

Jesus is Watching You!

Miracles in The Bible

How The Internet Began

I Saw Him in Church

Wreckers or Builder?

Didn’t Mean In. . . It meant Close To, round About, or Nearby!

Killing Truth

MASKS

The Tiger, The Man and God

Tell Them

Watching The Worms

The Beggar’s Bowl

Bunches of Bananas

The Ship

Angry Arguments

The Talking Twins

An Army of Ants

A Kind Crown

The Fifth Gospel

The Saint and The Serpent

Envy and Enmity

Epilogue

Introduction

The Fruit of the Soul is a collection of more than 30 inspirational stories based on the biblical term Fruit of the Spirit which sums up the nine visible attributes of a true Christian life, which are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Moreover, Fruit of the Soul offers readers a gentle but tenacious opportunity to appreciate God’s loving presence and to co-discern God’s action in every aspect of life.  Fruit of the Soul provides a safe and yet stretching context where each story is honoured as the raw material in which readers can learn to discern and receive God’s message without feeling they are under pressure to understand each story based on the interpretation of a preacher, pastor or minister. However, through spiritual self-direction, that will enable readers to discover, how to integrate and express God’s present love in our everyday choices. However, these choices are not without its challenges, especially, when the Satan gets involved.

To reinforce the point regarding challenges, barriers and stumbling blocks, Satan was having a garage sale. There, standing in little groups were all his bright, shiny trinkets. Here were tools that make it easy to tear others down for use as stepping stones. And over there were some lenses for magnifying one’s own importance, which, if you looked through them the other way, you could also use to belittle others, or even one’s self. Against the wall was the usual assortment of gardening implements guaranteed to help your pride grow by leaps and bounds: the rake of scorn, the shovel of jealousy for digging a pit for your neighbour, the tools of gossip and backbiting, of selfishness and apathy. These were pleasing to the eye and came complete with fabulous promises and guarantees of prosperity     

The Bus Ride

The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the attractive young woman with the white cane made her way carefully up the steps. She paid the driver, and using her hands to feel the location of the seats, walked down the aisle and found the seat he'd told her was empty. Then she settled in, placed her briefcase on her lap and rested her cane against her leg.  It had been a year since Susan, thirty-four, became blind. Due to a medical misdiagnosis, she had been rendered sightless, and she was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity. Once a fiercely independent woman, Susan now felt condemned by this terrible twist of fate to become a powerless, helpless burden on everyone around her. How could this have happened to me? she would plead, her heart knotted with anger. But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth: her sight was never going to return. A cloud of depression hung over Susan's once optimistic spirit. Just getting through each day was an exercise in frustration and exhaustion and all she had to cling to her husband Mark. Mark was an Air Force officer and he loved Susan with all his heart. When she first lost her sight, he watched her sink into despair and was determined to help his wife gain the strength and confidence she needed to become independent again. Mark's military background had trained him well to deal with sensitive situations, and yet he knew this was the most difficult battle he would ever face. Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Mark volunteered to drive her to work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city. At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark's need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task.  Soon, however, Mark realized that this arrangement wasn't working - it was hectic, and costly. Susan is going to have to start taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. But just the thought of mentioning it to her made him cringe. She was still so fragile, so angry. How would she react?  Just as Mark predicted, Susan was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again. I'm blind! she responded bitterly. How am I supposed to know where I'm going? I feel like you're abandoning me. Mark's heart broke to hear these words, but he knew what had to be done. He promised Susan that each morning and evening he would ride the bus with her, for as long as it took, until she got the hang of it. And that is exactly what happened. For two solid weeks, Mark, military uniform and all accompanied Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses especially her hearing, to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her and save her a seat. He made her laugh, even on those not-so-good days when she would trip exiting the bus, or drop her briefcase. Each morning they made the journey together, and Mark would take a cab back to his office. Although this routine was even more costly and exhausting than the previous one, Mark knew it was only a matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her own. He believed in her, in the Susan he used to know before she'd lost her sight, who wasn't afraid of any challenge and who would never, ever quit.

Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own. Monday morning arrived, and before she left, she threw her arms around Mark, her temporary bus riding