A Voice from the Darkness: A Christian Love Story

By David W. Folk Ph.D

Jacki is a thirty-year-old woman just trying to get through life, but she has no vision or goals. Joshua, an older Christian man, comes into her life and turns her world upside-down. They fall into love, but fate is just around the corner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973655886

David W. Folk Ph.D

Dr. Folk was recently published beginning a series of Children’s Bible Stories. Dr. Folk is a Christian and Ordained Minister with Pastor’s Certificate. He enjoys writing Christian stories, operating an online Prayer Ministry and Prayer Ministry for Missing Persons. Dr. Folk’s goal is to place God’s stories into the hands of as many people as possible.

Book preview

Chapter 1

In The Beginning

T his story begins in a state of total darkness. No noises. No voices. Nothing. In the distance, you can barely hear a faint sound that resembled a heartbeat. Softly from the darkness, we hear a small child’s voice speak ……

Father God in Heaven, I feel my Dad is not doing well and I just know something is wrong. God, my Dad is a good man and has helped many people and he believes in your Son, Jesus. Please permit our family seed to continue to exist on this earth. Please give me a chance to live. I humbly ask for your intervention great and merciful God, Thank you.

We begin our story moving through a large marketing office in a skyscraper in downtown New York. We find a thirty-year-old woman named Jacqueline Eliza Winder sitting alone crying in the breakroom. Her coworkers know her as Jackie for short. For three years, Jackie has worked at this large marketing company as a Senior Marketing Analyst. Jackie is a hard worker and since coming to the marketing company has been very successful at getting several multi-million-dollar accounts.

Jackie is an attractive woman. She has no problem finding dates or having relationships with men. Her problem was the inability to find a good man. Her courtships always end-up with the man being unfaithful. Jackie has had one failed relationship after another and while Jackie was thinking marriage, the man had no intentions of getting married. Today was one of those broken relationship days. Jackie cannot understand why it is so hard for her to find an honest man who would keep and love her for the rest of her life. Tears were running down her face and her hair looked like she had been standing in a wind storm. Four female coworkers entered the break room and after hugging Jackie sat at Jackie’s table making comments like it will be okay and there’s someone out there for everyone. One coworker suggested, why don’t you join us down at Barneys tonight? The other two coworkers supported the idea. Come on Jackie, you have to get right back on that horse if you fall off the coworker replied trying to encourage Jackie. The coworkers looked at each other and quietly left the breakroom. Suddenly the door flew open and slammed against the wall. Into the room stormed a man in his late fifties, balding, with a horrible suit and ugly red tie. He yelled Jackie! Jackie raised her head from her crossed arms on the table and the Boss saw her face with mascara running down her cheeks and yelled it’s Alice Cooper! trying to get a smile. The Boss continued Jackie, this must stop. You cannot let whatever happened in your personal life interfere with your job performance. You are not returning your customer calls. You are better than this. The Boss quickly left the break room and pulled the door shut. Jackie raised her head and said to herself okay Jackie get a grip. The guy was a loser and I am better than this. Jackie rose from the table, wiped away her tears and moved slowly towards her office cubicle. Her three coworkers yelled from adjacent cubicles Barneys at eight! Jackie replied all right, see you there as she slid into her office chair and started typing on her computer.

Chapter 2

Barneys

A fter a long day, Jackie and her coworkers would meet at Barneys. Barneys was a local eating establishment where many of the locals frequented. The place was quiet and a great place to meet people and socialize. Barneys had been around for years and had a rustic smell of old wood from the wood beams that outlined the interior. Occasionally, a stranger on a business trip would wander in but the locals that frequented the establishment all knew each other. Sitting towards the rear of the establishment was Jackie and her four coworkers. What am I doing here? Jackie thought to herself. Suddenly through the front door entered a tall nice-looking man who was obviously a player from the image he portrayed. The man stopped at the front door and surveyed the crowd as if he was searching for someone. As he scanned the crowd his eyes stopped at Jackie and he smiled. That would be tonight’s target. The man walked over to the bar and spoke with the bartender. As he spoke, he turned and pointed towards Jackie’s table and asked the bartender to deliver a drink to Jackie. The waitress delivered the drink to Jackie and turned and pointed to the man standing at the bar. Jackie’s eyes turned to the bar and there stood the man with a drink raised in the air. I’m not ready to meet anyone new Jackie told her friends. Oh, it doesn’t hurt to just talk with him Jackie’s coworkers encouraged her. So, reluctantly, Jackie lifted her glass to the guy at the bar and nodded to acknowledge receipt of the drink. Slowly he began working his way over to where Jackie was sitting as her coworkers began to move away from the table socializing with other friends. Jackie grabbed the arm of one of her coworkers and stated, Do not leave me here by myself. The coworker replied, you’ll be okay, and we are nearby. Hi, I’m Bart the man spoke bending over the table trying to ensure his introduction was heard over the background music and people talking. Hi, I’m Jackie Jackie replied. Bart slid into the empty seat beside Jackie and stated mind if I sit and talk for a while? Jackie replied, okay, have a seat."

As we scan to the other side of Barneys, we see an older man sitting with friends at a table. The man was around 50 and was quite nice looking, distinguished and a great dresser. This man’s name was Joshua. It was obvious Joshua was financially secure in his life by the extremely nice clothes he was wearing. As he glanced around the room his eyes fell upon Jackie. He thought, how beautiful she was but too bad someone was sitting with her. His eyes kept going back to her and he noticed how she smiled and tilted her head to listen to the man sitting with her. Joshua’s friends kept asking him questions, but his focus was on the beautiful woman on the other side of the establishment. Joshua would reply to his friends Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. For the next hour, Joshua and his business partners at the table discussed work rather than their social lives. Joshua could not take his interest off the woman at the other end of Barneys.

Jackie’s conversation with Bart was nice and she was enjoying herself. She was glad to have someone to talk to and take her mind off her problems for a moment. Jackie told Bart she needed to go to the lady’s room and would be right back. As she rose from the table, Jackie’s made eye contact with Joshua.