introducing carolina caroline but thea jones and two values that caroline really really want to talk about today are my transits and continuous improvement and her lovely daughter  is also with us i want to start off by reading caroline's caroline's bio caroline is an author and playwright who strengthened writing involves using the premise of religious expection all of her stories have readers feeling that they personally know the characters in them because their situations jump off the page like one of the one dollah with the person holding the book it is a style that a few authors can't master but for caroline's it has become her trademark if asked what message she hopes to send with her writing caroline will tell you that she wants the running things and all of her words to be about choices and consequences as a live her characters are presented with options and when they choose to go down the wrong path they ultimately must repeat what they sow this protest quite this approach is quite understandable since caroline is a fully licensed minister and is currently preparing to receive her doctorate  theology she is the founder of the sisters helping sisters in christ ministry woods which she started in her home in january of two thousand and one it is a nonprofit mentoring ministry dedicated to forming a strong christian fellowship among women for the purpose of encouraging motivating strengthening and empowering one another to be a virtuous woman that sounds absolutely wonderful yes ok a lot in your own words can you tell us who you are and what you're all about well i'm a very simple person i don't really i don't really like describing myself because it seems like i change talk about the transition inflate i change with however i grow and i'm always looking to grow so i want to say that i don't want to say that i'm just an oyster well i'm just the playwright for me even just the minister because however i am supposed to encounter and interact in people's lives i kind of go there so i don't know how the strike myself and i don't want to say i'm a jack of all trades because we think you know yeah yeah because i  have some skills but i don't know i just i i guess i wait until the holy spirit directs me and then i kind of go wherever he needs me to go all right i'm going to strive myself as an with your mom well we've been in the business for the longest and i just go with her wherever she has an appearance i also added her books for all of the work that she puts together i just give it a once to actually get my work done so one day one day my novel will hit like something but right now i i'm just her her person she's actually water on my person or wherever she needs to be i make sure she's there so whatever capacity editor stagehand manager anything i do the p r and i love our ways love it when people like family are able to really really work together subhead married couples come on who do businesses again i do ministry together i just think that is so in incredible so carolina you and i met at an author a vent yes we've almost two  know i'm always fascinated because i'm a published author myself and i have a book that i'm writing on and so i'm always intrigued by the writing process and how different people approach writing in a very different way and end up with a very different product so can you talk a little bit and share with the audience how you got into writing and sort of your history as a writer that's a fair question well i always well i started writing when i was young like eleven twelve years old and i guess a lot of people do what do you do you write a journal you write poetry you learn poetry in school so you you write poetry i started writing poetry and then i started writing songs that you say was the difference between poetry and songs not much of a difference but there was a difference and i found that i really love songwriting because when i when i realized that i actually can marry my word to music now my husband is a musician well and you talked about families that work together so we started out when i met my husband i was already into writing poetry and he was into the music and when i realized that we could marry  two of us do and that really made me really feel good but what really got me writing novels is watching soap operas i was in a very bad car accident and i was out of work for five years and so i found myself engaged in watching soap operas and i was sit there and say i can write this stuff i can write this stuff because it just seems so simple and so i said let me let me give it a try and i did i wrote my first book someone to love and i didn't really want to do anything with it because i like my daughter i wanted it in my head and i didn't want anyone to see my work  know how you know how much more than do that and she said well you know just publish it publish it on your own tell somebody this is what i mean so many things happened i ended up publishing it on my own because she inspired me to do a selfie and it got to the point where i actually found that i actually loved the publishing process see this what i'm saying as i evolve and as i transition our one thing into noth i found that i not only loved it but seemed to be pretty good at it and so that's how i wrote my first book and published it and then so anybody can write a book and anybody can publish it really but will the audience accept it paying them and you know they kind of also i work i do short stories because i can always knock those out i haven't written a novel i've done i've had about three story beginnings that were going to be novels but they just didn't pan out something happened in writing them that i didn't finish them they got lost computers crash notebooks got lost and things like that and i just got totally frustrated with the process so i just i can't sit and do it she had you know the five years oh i need five years of so we keep motivating her we can we keep letting her know that she can do it and that's another thing i need i really feel in my heart that is really nothing that i can do because i follow i think that you cannot cannot do yes because i follow all the local model you know that's what got me into the ministry in the first place is because i really believed that this is possible and so when i read i take it into myself that's why when i write i want to make sure that my readers can take it into their selves because when i read the bible i think feel it becomes a life in me which is why i am empowered because i know that i can do all things through christ who gives me strength and i know that i was created to do good works and so the idea that i can do good works is is it's absurd movie which brings me to the fact that you're also a playwright yes can you talk a little bit about the playwright aspect of what you do and then after that i want to talk about the ministry that you have with reading the bible i want to talk about a little bit while the playwright part of it again it was something that i wanted to do and the thing is is that i always try to work with people first i never ever want to think that i dismiss what you do as something like if you are a playwright or if you are a director i respect that and i respect you and i want to work with you i don't want to to assume and i'm going to step into those shoes so i had a book of short stories that i had intended to be a play and i couldn't get off the ground right away so i'm just published a book of short stories but then i broached the subject again with someone who creative differences be very protective of our work and so this director wanted to change so much of my work so that it was my work and i kind of this is what i mean about  new me i'm not a producer i don't know maybe he was right but i was so close to my work and so closely inspired by it that i didn't want to change and we had a vision for ray here yet the two of us we had the vis for we had the individuals who were willing to be our actors and actresses so we already had the vision before we went to the director ok and he wanted to change everything and i didn't want to change we were already kneedeep in the middle of it yes and so i had changed hands from being the writer to the producer in the director so that's how i kind of got into the whole play writing thing it kind of fell into my lap but again because i have the mindset that there's really nothing that i can't do if i put my mind to it i wasn't afraid because a lot of people don't do a lot of things because fear absolutely when you take the fear out of it then you will attempt something if you fall down what if you fell down you get up and you try again so that's how i got into the playwright and again realized how much i loved it and when i realize how much i loved writing and how much i love the play writing how much i love the ministry in my mind i'm saying why can't i marry all or who's the say that i can bring all of this together you know so all my writing has a theme choices and consequences i want to be a responsible writer so i want everything that i write to have some sort of purpose i wanted to be able to help someone in my ministry i help women in the women's ministry i help them get to those levels in their life that they're having trouble getting to and we do it with our foundation our christian foundation so i didn't see any reason why i couldn't take the same foundation that works so well for me and use it in every aspect of my life why can't it be a part of my writing why can't it be a part of my playwriting as well as the support of my ministry so i saw no reason in my daughter agree with me all i need is one person to agree with you that we can marry all of this so now all my plays are on biblically based biblically in the sense morally i'm always looking for the choices and the consequences and everything i did the play i and i i've needed to have this play done i needed to have it done and so i went about to have it done now i did the research and i found out that it was only perform one time he only had to perform one time oh wow y and then that was a so i said i must do it because it's spoke about what i write about choices and consequences what happens when we we when forget who we soldiers speak and it was it was terrific so can you talk a little bit about your ministry because i met you at the book writing but then i also got exposed to the weekly bible study that you do and one of the things that i found so intriguing and just kind of drew me in is the fact is you have people actually read the bible so to me that's kind of speaking to  you can feel it a little bit more there's something about hearing it absolutely as opposed to just reading it sometimes you're just reading it in your head is in your head and it kind of you get a little distracted here or there but there's something about you speaking the words because you're speaking life and that's how i wanted it done and our bible studies on on a teleconference as well as when we meet by weekly we read the bible we discuss it we go through every single word we do not miss a thing because we want the bible to to not only resonate with us i tell them all the time and i'll say this is not an ancient book this is not a book that was written ages thousands of years ago and you pick it up and you read it like a novel and you put it down this is a living book  it's a living book it should speak to you today just like it spoke to you yesterday or thousands of years ago so what i want us to do when we're reading those stories is i want  see us in those stories and i want you to be able to to bring it to today and if you can't do that something's wrong that that's one of the drawing points for the program for the one ministry all the women really love that aspect of it that we make it personal we're helping to build a personal relationship with the lord so you know that sometimes that missing they don't know how to get that connection and when we really break it down and not move on to the next passage until everyone's clear on this part will stay on a passage for you know of two months of we have to but we don't want to just you know feed them information and let them go home last year i think it's just what you were dissing i think it's really interesting that a lot of people and i've had conversations with people that just don't really understand how personal god is and how that relationship is very very personal like i had a conversation with a group of kids one time and you know how you know we talk about jesus died to say you know for the sins of the world but it was very difficult for them to separate the concept of jesus dying on the cross for the world god gave his only begotten son etc to them reign as individuals and i kept tried some uk a but don't you know that when christ went to the cross he had your name written on his heart like he did that for you in particular so i think people really somehow rush to where rain and i think that also because it speaks to the fact that we were uniquely made each one of us is a unique creation of god and sometimes i think people just have a difficult time i think their minds around their own uniqueness and that god is very personal and it is i'm glad you i'm glad you feel that's what we drive home because if they're not getting that personal relationship or at least working towards a personal relationship then you know we have a problem so we keep working on that and everyone man has that's gone through the program always comes back and says wow it's so different you know even you know for myself i've been you and they they don't feel it or they don't know what we're talking about we say just wait till you get to that home where you're you know you have that point where you know you hear it he's speaking to you when you understand while this is it and you'll know your life will be forever changed you can't go actually read aloud the first time i did it was you know and i i practice on the phone like i've read struve that particular chapter and i think it's great that you do like sometimes a whole book which i think in my case it was a whole book so i literally very well it is a book most of all time before i got on the phone so then when i got on the phone i wasn't conscious of my reading skip around from place to place the place a place in my experience is confusing now there are moments when you have to skip around and when we have our bible studies in person there is a lot of skipping around because we're making certain points that we can reference that we can have here and connecting stuff to us but when we're having a teleconference what i'm what i'm basically trying to do is get the get the whole experience so like when we were reading about abraham it was for the first time the young lady understood and could connect the dots of who abraham was because you hear about abraham but you don't know abraham full story so now you can connect the dots you can see where every piece president you can see when we're talking about the twelve tribes you can see where they originated from you can see how they are connected and that kind of helps you put things in perspective perhaps when you can see where things are originate moving here so we're actually winding down i'm having such a great time of this conversation and never seem to have enough talent when i read my show but in the last few minutes or so what out like you to do is share with the audience how they can get in touch with you so you have your books on the market barnes and noble amazon amazon amazon sells to you know if there's a phone number website or something and if you can just let them know and when we do your your page on also my website novel to go publishing dot com you can also purchase the books from there ok i have the ritual books as well bible study lesson books that c sharing of knowledge we have to go back to each one teach one yes because there is now one teacher and i tell the women yes i am a minister yes i went to school yes i have my degrees yes but the truth of the matter is it is the holy spirit that teaches us so it is through the holy spirit that i'm able to be used as an absolute as an in our last minute or so can you just share their one final wisdom that you want peace of wisdom that you want to give to the audience and you as well my piece of wisdom is always this i'm always trying to encourage people to be careful of what they do you have a freedom to do whatever you want that is true i tell people all the time jesus saved us jesus we deemed us and gave us  freedom from the m binded by anybody but i want you to understand that there comes a responsibility with their freedom and i just want us to to always be mindful of how we live our lives because the one thing that i tell people all the choose whatever you want to do what you can't choose is the consequences associated with what you do this and you get like ten seconds basically in every entering you know good results good fruits  ill see you next time right here at the place the store by