MSI Press Blog

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  Blest Atheist  by Elizabeth Mahlou. Amazon review by Debra Gaynor - Elizabeth Mahlou grew up in an abusive home. She tells of her mother stabbing her brother with a knife in the buttocks, and her father throwing a pitchfork and stabbing him with it. Taking an airplane ride had a whole new meaning in this family. The abuse was physical, emotional, and sexual. "The wounds were in the heart and mind and covered parts of the body." Like most bullies, their

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is Blest Atheist by Elizabeth Mahlou. Amazon review by Brendan Howard - Elizabeth Mahlou's autobiography and tale of coming to believe in God has a lot going for it. Her candid descriptions of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of relatives gripped this reader in a flood of sympathy and horror. Mahlou's great reserve of optimism and compassion as child and adult seems initially boastful. But in light of her life of childhood trauma, physical

  Recently released - the audiobook for  Blest Atheist  by Elizabeth Mahlou. As a young child, outraged by the hypocrisy she finds in a church that does nothing to alleviate the physical and sexual abuse she experiences on a regular basis, Beth delivers an accusatory youth sermon and gets her family expelled from the church. Having locked the door on God, Beth goes on to raise a family of seven children, learn 17 languages, and enjoy a career that takes her to NASA, Washington, and 24 countries. All the time, however, God keeps knocking at the door, protecting and blessing her, which she realizes only decades later. Ultimately, Beth finds God in a very simple yet most unusual way. A very human story, Blest Atheist encompasses the greatest literary themes of all time - alienation, redemption, and even the miraculous. The author's life experiences, both tragic and tremendous, result in a spiritual journey containing significant ups and downs that ultimately yield great joy and humili

  Today's shared blog post comes from Dr. Elizabeth Mahlou, author of  Blest Atheist  and  A Believer-in-Waiting's First Encounters with God . The post is called: Nikolina, A Few Years Later and was posted on Mahlou's blog, Clan of Mahlou. For more posts about Dr. Mahlou and her books, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can!  Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pag

  Today's shared blog post comes from Dr. Elizabeth Mahlou, author of Blest Atheist and A Believer-in-Waiting's First Encounters with God . The post is called: Along Came Doah and was posted on Mahlou's blog, Clan of Mahlou. For more posts about Dr. Mahlou and her books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can!  Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pag

  Today's fortune cookie is associated with A Believer-in-Waiting's First Encounters with God   (Mahlou). For more posts about Elizabeth Mahlou and her books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .    

  From the blog of Elizabeth Mahlou, 100th Lamb . M iracles. Why do I seem to get so many of them? Then I wondered if I really did get a disproportionate share of them, or have I just learned to recognize them. My conclusion? I think miracles happen more often than people know (or recognize). On a related topic, there has been some lively discussion on some blogs recently of distractions during prayer. This is, of course, not a recent or uncommon discussion. It's been a problem throughout the centuries, and I, of course, do experience such distractions. I try to follow the advice to ignore them and return to contemplation, but sometimes these distractions take on a life of their own. Similarly, but with a happier result, sometimes while I am in the midst of work, particularly boring but important meetings, I become intensely aware of God's presence in the room. The result is that I become quite distracted from the business of hand, sometimes embarrassingly so. Nonetheless, if y

Today's fortune cookie comes from Blest Atheist by Elizabeth Mahlou. See more posts by and about Elizabeth Mahlou and her books HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .    

  Excerpt from Blest Atheist -  I do not remember when I first became an independent thinker, but somehow even as a young child, I knew I had to be, that this was the route to survival. Over time, the books showed me how.  I remember moments of independence dating back to very young years. One such instance revolved around a gift of seven dollars that Gram had given me for my seventh birthday. I wanted a bank account, and my parents had helped me put this money into savings. I wanted some day to add to the savings. Perhaps with a little money, when I grew up—or even before then—I would be able to leave the burning house. However, my hopes and plans were dashed several months later when my parents decided that I needed a new pair of shoes. The ones they wanted for me cost exactly seven dollars. Holding up my bank book, they told me to get in the car so that we could go to the bank and take out my money for the shoes. I resisted. I would rather have continued to wear the shoe

  Excerpt from A Believer-in-Waiting's First Encounters with God --  The Letter I once wrote a rather nasty note to an interim priest. He said something negative about our previous parish priest during Mass, in the presence of that priest, something that was not true and clearly hurt our former priest’s feelings. It was an attempt by the interim priest to make a joke, but it fell flat. The inappropriateness of it stirred feelings of indignation within me. (There we go with judgment! Who am I to judge? Yet I did!) I decided to write an irate letter, something that is generally out of character for me when it comes to priests. I highly value all the priests in my life and am grateful for them and to them, and I certainly do not expect them to be perfect. In this case, though, I was certain that I had the high road, and I explained all my concerns to the interim priest in four written pages! As I folded the letter to mail it, I felt a twinge out of nowhere, a strong feeling that wha

  Blest Atheist is the perfect book story to tell on Easter. After all, it opens and ends with an Easter scene. The story behind the book is actually told within the pages of the book. Dr. Mahlou sspent her life as an atheist; Blest Atheist is the story of that life and of her conversion to Catholicism.  Here is the book description: As a young child, outraged by the hypocrisy she finds in a church that does nothing to alleviate the physical and sexual abuse she experiences on a regular basis, Beth delivers an accusatory youth sermon and gets her family expelled from the church. Having locked the door on God, Beth goes on to raise a family of seven children, learn 17 languages, and enjoy a career that takes her to NASA, Washington, and 24 countries. All the time, however, God keeps knocking at the door, protecting and blessing her, which she realizes only decades later. Ultimately, Beth finds God in a very simple yet most unusual way. A very human story, Blest Atheist encompasses the