Throughout her life, Sheron Chambers Jefferson struggled to get on the straight and narrow path. Growing up in Los Angeles, she became one of the many wayward youth who turned to the streets for love and validation.

This resulted in an eighteen-year battle with addiction that resulted in not only broken marriages but also numerous close calls, all while still have to raise her three children.

Sheron recently appeared on “America Tonight with Kate Delaney” to discuss what got her out of that spiral by talking about her book Thorns on the Rose: Transformed by the Experiential Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a book that shows the riveting details that ultimately led her to find answers in her Christian faith, as well as how that faith can still help so many who have suffered as she did.

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Seeing God’s Hand at Work, Even When That Hand is Heavy

Even in the more recent years prior to publishing, Sheron had sensed the hand of God prompting her to turn her life story into a book.

For her, the biggest and heaviest sign was when she lost a very high-paying substance abuse counselor job through some very peculiar circumstances.

And even at that point in her life, she still wrestled with self-doubt and procrastination as well as the urge to disobey. In fact, disobedience had been one recurring theme in her life that she realized she had to share.

Yet during the entire grueling process of working on the book and pouring out her story, it became clear to her that her doubts were unfounded. When a voice told her that nobody would want to read another story about a former drug addict, she didn’t listen. When a voice told her that her life wasn’t worthwhile, she didn’t listen.

Sheron kept at it until the book was finally out.

Getting at the Heart of Substance Abuse

Sheron also saw God’s guidance at work when she was still searching for the primary cause underlying substance abuse. During times when she had to take up further education to become a counselor, she ended up learning important facts that deeply resonated with her experience.

So when she learned that the primary reason for drug usage was pain, she was quick to identify the pain in her own life. Substance abuse was the result of her search for self-validation in the streets and felt that there was no other way to live.

The education she received felt like God telling her that it was not true and that she herself was eager to send word to addicts that it did not have to be true for them either.

Surrendering to God

Perhaps the most pivotal moment in her life was still the day she lost her husband. This was at the time that, despite her husband’s better upbringing, education, and career, he fell in love with her “Jezebel” persona.

The next thing she knew, he too was caught up in substance abuse, and it led to him becoming another casualty on the streets. It was on that day, the day of her eldest son’s birthday, having to visit the coroner’s office to identify her husband’s body, that she felt the powerlessness of her situation.

Sheron surrendered to God not long after, because she realized that she could no longer do anything on her own.

The book’s title alludes to the parallel between her life and the reality of roses having thorns. The thorns are a part of the whole creation and all creation is a part of God’s wonderful plan.

It’s a plan that she really hopes more people would trust and listen to, as she firmly believes it is a plan for good.

You can check out the full interview over at the ReadersMagnet YouTube channel. Thorns on the Rose: Transformed by the Experiential Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ by Sheron Chambers Jefferson is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Amazon: https://a.co/d/3BzorwR

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thorns-on-the-rose-sheron-chambers-jefferson/1139368040?ean=9781647737641