“If you don’t know where you are going any road can take you there” Alice in Wonderland ~ Lewis Carroll

I now have five memoirs published, all within one year, available in paperback and Kindle.  After editing and formatting, I did not read any of them in their entirety until recently.  I opened The Land Beyond Goodbye memoir of my traveling adventures around the world. I was truly surprised as I read the Prologue.  Questions filled my thoughts.  Did I actually write this?  I know the words are all true as I experienced them.  Yet, I was extremely amazed – reading my own words, I felt as though this memoir was written ‘through me’. When I looked at my first slide photographs of Earth, Wind, & Fire in concert as tour photographer on their Spirit Tour, I had that same exact feeling!  Again, I felt these photographs were ‘taken through me’. Were these unacknowledged talents or was it the source of my higher power?  I do this often in my life whenever I am creating – whether it be a driftwood lamp, a painting on canvas, a photograph, my Jussta Jackets in which every stitch is a one word prayer, or the words in my memoirs and how well I have expressed myself. Have you also experienced this when expressing your creativity?  Do you feel that your talents come through you as I do? Even though I have written five memoirs they only cover my life as a young girl through 1994.  So, yes, I have more to remember and share from 1994 through 2016.  My life has certainly never been dull or boring.  I am eager to begin writing my sixth memoir in the coming days. I want to share the Prologue of The Land Beyond Goodbye with you.  After reading this, what emotions are invoked from my writing?  Do my words stir your emotions, reflections, and thoughts about your personal journey?  Let’s find out. PROLOGUE

“Traditionally, April Fool means that the person is sent on a chase after something he/she already has.”

Even though I was raised Catholic, I have not observed Lent or Holy Week for many years.  Suddenly, my entire focus was on observing Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. Now that I think about it, the Universe decided for me because I ran barefoot into a metal pole and fractured my left foot on March 25, 2015.  The bruising kept spreading up my foot almost to the ankle despite applying ice and elevating my left foot – two days later I went to the Emergency Room, X-rays revealed the fracture.  A post-op shoe prevented me from bending my toes and keeping my left foot secure.  Walking was painful so I became a couch potato. I watched the entire Bible television series, hours and hours of religious television shows based on the Apostles.  I ventured out once when my neighbor invited me to attend the Passion of the Christ on Holy Friday at San Luis Rey Mission enacted by children.  I had read the entire Bible before I was eight years old.  I had been baptized Catholic and received my First Holy Communion on April 1- April Fool’s Day.  In fact, I had my First Holy Communion Certificate laminated and wherever I live, it hangs next to me, above my bed. What is so special about April Fool’s Day?  For me, it is my Divine Sign from the White Light when I died on the operating table minutes before midnight on Holy Saturday and resurrected on Easter Sunday.  I encountered The White Light wanting me.  I argued with The White Light insisting there was something more I had to do and made a promise ‘to do anything’ in exchange for additional life.  Finally, I was granted additional life in this physical body.  When I asked The White Light what I needed to do, The White Light responded, “You will know when you have done what it is you are to do.” I told my surgeon about the ‘dream’ I had during surgery as he sat next to me on my hospital bed.  Tears streamed down the surgeon’s cheeks as I related my experience in detail.  His response to me, “That was no dream, we had lost you, you died on the operating table.” Because of massive, multiple injuries, including head trauma when I went through the windshield shattering it with my head – this was before there were shatterproof windshields – I was not aware, but I suffered from Retrograde Amnesia for almost a year prior to the auto accident on Good Friday.  No one was allowed to tell me I suffered Amnesia because supposedly it would cause emotional trauma. My entire destiny changed when I made that promise to The White Light.  Many years later, I began receiving April Fool ‘Divine Signs.’  I even laughed and made jokes asking is this an April Fool’s joke?  Others would laugh with me – it turned out that it was NOT a laughing matter! I was being evicted from my posh apartment on exclusive Lido Isle in Newport Beach.  My mother had died years before and all of my childhood memorabilia was in my sister’s garage almost 200 miles away.  I was sitting on the floor before a bookcase reaching up to pack books in a trunk.  I reached up without thinking and to my surprise, I found my First Holy Communion Certificate!  As I read my certificate, most of all the date of April Fool’s Day!  Suddenly, I recalled dying and making the promise to The White Light.  Not only that, the date my Holy Communion teleported and I discovered it, was on April Fool’s Day, April 1! I realized why I had not recalled the promise made to The White Light until this day because I would have been constantly asking, “Is this what I must do to fulfill my promise?” I would have thought it would be one wonderful, positive act.  But that was not to be. Now, I fully acknowledged that my ‘Divine Sign’ from The White Light was April Fool – but also the numerology as the date was written:  The first day of April, in the year 1951 which digits to 147.  I began receiving and following without question, my Divine Signs, which I knew without a doubt, were from The White Light! My Divine Signs come from others without their knowing they are giving them to me, and very rarely do they manifest on April Fool’s Day. I have published four of my memoirs in a series entitled; Journey Of A Soul which I wrote near the time the experiences occurred beginning in 1989.  I am about to publish the fifth memoir written more than two decades ago entitled, Journey Of A Soul – Part IV – The Land Beyond Goodbye.  All of my memoirs are available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and you can visit my Jussta Author page on Amazon as well to read about my journey in detail. Over the years, I have received hundreds and hundreds of Divine Signs from The White Light confirming this is the next step on my journey, another part of fulfilling my promise ‘to do anything’ in exchange for additional life in this body. I was sitting in the waiting room of the Emergency Room speaking with a man who was also waiting to be treated.  During the conversation, I mentioned dying and encountering The White Light, and making a promise ‘to do anything’.  The man appeared stunned and asked me, “Who do you think is The White Light?” I have never been asked that question before! Before I could respond, the man was called to be treated.  I sat alone in the wheelchair; I could not get that question out of my mind. The question kept repeating in my mind for days and days afterward.  More and more, I was puzzled that I have never asked the question of myself!  Faith prevailed for me – I always, always followed the Divine Signs from The White Light without question or doubt!  As they say, “Faith is belief without proof!” Suddenly, the undeniable answer came to me!  The White Light is the Holy Spirit, or is The White Light an Angel?  The White Light could be Jesus!  I died and resurrected several times.  My doctors tell me I am a ‘walking medical miracle’. Yes, indeed, April Fool is about seeking something the person already has.  I sought additional life by making a promise ‘to do anything’ for additional life – when in truth, we all have eternal life!  Jesus proved it over 2,000 years ago – and yet, many continue to doubt.” In closing, whether at author events when I meet attendees, and they see the five paperbacks on my table – usually, they ask me what I have done in my life to be able to write five memoirs? I chuckle to myself thinking of what an incredible journey my entire life has been.  I reply “Yes” as I give them an enigmatic smile knowing how surprised each person would be after reading all of my memoirs. I love writing.  I am happy and grateful for the God-given talent, gifts of skills, and the blessing of an excellent education. I encourage each of you to review your own lives to consider the amazing journey, twist and turns, skills, talents, artistic endeavors as you recall the events that may prompt you to write a journal or your own memoir. Namaste`, Jussta Cover of The Land Beyond Goodbye designed by Jussta, including the photograph taken by her in Australia. © 2016 Jussta All Rights Reserved Jussta Author – Memoirs – Amazon.com Views:]]>