Pastor pens ‘journey’
A KWADUKUZA pastor has penned a book that explores the highs and lows of life after surviving a “death” scare.
Jenna Moodley, 42, shared her journey after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2016.
She launched her book earlier this month, titled Journey Through the Valley at the Philadelphia Full Gospel Church in Kwadukuza.
She said the passion to write a book had always been burning inside her even before she was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
“I had a dream in 2007 about writing a book but I wasn’t clear on what exactly. So I penned two chapters and God said close the book. I left it like that, trusting and asking God for guidance on how to carry on,” said Moodley.
In 2016 she underwent surgery for the brain tumour and she said she was grateful to be alive.
After her recovery she started writing the book and said she was proud she was able to finally finish the book and have it released.
“I wanted to share my experiences and encourage others who are also going through the same thing, that
you will live, you will be alright and just trust in God. But this book is not just entirely for people who may be diagnosed with brain tumour, it’s for the ‘normal’ person, who may be going through their own trials and tribulations, to give them hope that there’s always a brighter day ahead.”
She added that she may look like she is fully recovered but sometimes the simplest things can become such a chore.
“Like going into the shower, I would get out feeling so exhausted
and I would have to take a nap just to try and get my energies back up again. I am extremely lucky for such a strong support system around me, especially my family, together with friends and my church” said Moodley.
She said the writing was a teaching experience on its own with its own challenges and great lessons learnt.
“I manually wrote the book. I would type on my laptop every chance I got.
“When I was done, I would read over and over and over again. I personally edited the book about six times before I approached Reach Publishers in Durban.
“I was also assigned an editor, who said she didn’t have to do much editing because my copy was ‘clean’, which I was very proud of because I had really put in the work in it,” said Moodley.
She added she also always had a clear picture of how the book cover would look like and thanked the creative team from Reach Publishers, who assisted in coming up with the final product and being able to articulate her brief to them of how she wanted the cover to be.
Moodley said the book contained 12 chapters and each chapter was intertwined to a Bible verse, which then takes the reader through her personal life experiences.
She said each chapter was well thought out and gives people exercises to do at the end of every chapter.
“So it’s not a normal book that you read through and finish. I challenge people to look inside themselves and how to work through their challenges,” said Moodley.