It is my privilege today to tell you about, and highly recommend, a fantastic book titled “Diamond in the Rough” by Latasha Davis, a terrific young Black lady who I met when she was the receptionist for former Faulkner County Judge Jim Baker.
I got to know Latasha when I stopped by to see Jim and he was tied up with other visitors. As we chatted, I learned that she was writing a book. As a published author, I was able to help her get her book published. I might add, her book is available from Amazon. It is only 77 pages long and sells for $12.50, well within the budget of most of us.
Her book was just recently published and, as I read it, I learned that she was born in Warren, Arkansas, near Monticello where I went to college in what seems to be eons ago. While reading in her book I learned that she had a “horrific” childhood, as her father was an alcoholic, and it was only she and her mom. Every time her father returned home, things would go great for a couple of weeks and then the fighting would start, as he was in and out of their lives. She said, “When I look back, I can still feel the pain and torment, as I constantly lived in fear not knowing what would happen to my mom and me. I always wondered if my dad would kill my mom.”
She said there were many embarrassing moments during her preteen years. She said one day she and her father were sitting on the couch watching television. She looked out the window and saw two boys she knew from school who were walking in her neighborhood. She said that she quietly went out the back door and around the house to visit them. She said they were having a good time talking and she said, “I felt free and attractive.” And about this time her dad opened the front door and yelled “Tasha, get your black ass in this house.” He was very strict, and the boys soon learned not to come around there.
She said her father was later in the military, and they moved around a lot. In fact, she never started at a school and finished in the same one for all of her school years. But things changed for her when she came to know Jesus, and she began to pray that He would deliver her father from alcohol. In time, He did. Today she talks with her father almost every day and they have a wonderful relationship.
The reason this book is so special is that she completely trusts the Lord, and for every problem and challenge she faces, she quotes scripture as the means she uses to overcome it. For me, here is the bottom line: The Scripture contains truth and when we can find something that comes closer to the truth, we should be willing to throw our most cherished beliefs in the trash can. Get her book, you won’t regret it. Her book is unlike any I have ever read before. Jesus Christ is, and always has been, the answer to all the ills that plague our society.
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(Jim Davidson is an author, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. For a personalized copy of Jim’s latest book, “Keep Your Fork” send $25, which includes postage and handling and tax, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. It is also available on Amazon.)