Forever Changed

I NEED SOUL FOOD.

Forever Changed is Mary Mowoes true story of finding Jesus at fifty-two: a Christian memoir and conversion testimony for anyone whose life looks good but feels empty.

It is August 2019. Mary is on her sofa in Paris after a long working day, a glass of red wine raised to her lips and the Kardashians on the television. Then she hears a softly spoken voice, in her head and somehow beside her at the same time: I need soul food. She lives alone. No one is there.

The voice comes back days later. Then a third time, with new words: I need soul food, otherwise I need to go home. Mary is a pragmatic woman. She knows she is not going crazy. And she knows, deep down, that the voice will not come again. She has to find out what soul food is, and eat it.

THE EMPTINESS BEFORE THE VOICE

Mary was born in London to Nigerian parents. She spent three childhood years in Nigeria, where a seed was planted that told her she was not as good as the others. Back in the UK, when she was seven, her father died, and she made a quiet vow: she would never need anyone. That vow drove her through university, a masters degree and a career of more than thirty years in international Human Resources. She travelled so often she sometimes woke in a hotel not knowing which country she was in. She moved to Paris in her mid-thirties, sure that a beautiful city and a new language would finally fill the hole inside. They did not.

As a young Black girl growing up in 1970s and 1980s Britain, she rarely saw anyone who looked like her on screen. She straightened her hair with chemicals that burned her scalp. She tried to love football, drink like one of the boys and swear like a champion, hoping it would make people love her. It changed nothing. Her strong, ferocious mother protected their small family, but the seven-year-olds vow stayed in the driving seat. Looking back, Mary can see that fear had taken the wheel, and she was just along for the ride.

NO BIG BANG REQUIRED

Many conversion stories are dramatic, full of addiction, prison or near-death visions. Marys life was going well when Jesus called her. She writes that no extraordinary encounter is needed, because the real miracle happens when we allow Him and His life-changing revelations into our lives. However the encounter comes, the effect is the same: transformation.

WHAT THE CHRISTIAN LIFE REALLY LOOKS LIKE

Forever Changed goes beyond the moment of conversion. Across thirteen chapters, from The Voice and Soul Food to Talking to Jesus, When God Talks, The Valley, The Church and New Profession, Mary shares her walk with Christ day to day:

• The doubts, fears, joys and surprises of a new faith
• Talking to Jesus, and listening when God talks
• Carrying light into a secular city
• Walking through the valley, into the church, and into a new profession

FOR EVERY READER

Mary does not claim to be an expert on Christ, only on her own experience. She writes with openness, humour and gentleness for Christians who need encouragement, for those thinking about following Jesus, and for anyone curious about the most influential historical figure who ever walked the earth. Her message is simple: Jesus meets us where we are. You do not have to look a certain way or speak a certain language. You can come to Him precisely as you are.

Pull up a seat on the sofa in Paris. The best journey of Marys life is about to begin.