Eden Rising

By Kathleen Harksen

With her whole life ahead of her and no real plans for the future, a young woman embarks on a trip that changes everything for her. Having just graduated from college with a degree in History, Diana Martin joins her two friends, Lindsay and Kyle, on the trip of a lifetimea tour of the Middle East. The Pyramids of Egypt and the ancient history of Cairo and Kuwait City captivate them. Kyles wealthy father signs the trio up for a three day archeological dig in the deserts of Iraq. Diana soon finds herself outside of the borders of the camp and suddenly sinking in quicksand. Thinking her life has just ended, she is surprised to find that she has fallen into another dimension and another world! A place filled with exquisite beauty, harmony and peace. A place perfectly pure and wonderfula place called Eden. What she learns there amazes her and moves her into a life of destiny and purpose!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490856797

Kathleen Harksen

Kathy Harksen has spent most of her adult life working in various forms of ministry such as coordinating and teaching Bible Studies for children and adults; working with recovery ministries; and co-founding a beautifully thriving Women’s Ministry - Shattered Hearts Restored. She is passionate about her faith and her family. She loves horses and animals and all of the beauty found in God’s creation. Kathy enjoyed living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains for over thirty years but currently calls Owenton, Kentucky home. visit the author at: www. Kathleenharksen. com

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Copyright © 2014 Kathleen Olmert.

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-5678-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5679-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918439

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/05/2014

Contents

Acknowledgements

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Author’s Note

For Further Study

Acknowledgements

L ife revolves around relationships and I am so thankful for the many remarkable ones that flow all around me. So many friends and family members have stepped up and offered their prayers, love and encouragement as I worked through this process. A heartfelt thanks typed on a page hardly seems adequate to express how grateful I truly am. I hope they know that there is a small piece of each of them embedded in the words of this book. Pastors Jeff and Kim Beard, and Peggy Lee, thank you for hearing and responding – I couldn’t have done it without you! Many thanks to Terri Kroth and Mary Wolfe for your wonderful editing skills and for seeing what I couldn’t. Thank you Roger and Cindy Catlett, Trina Hedrick and all of the SHR ladies for your prayers, encouragement and support! My how we have grown and what a journey it has been! Thank you to Pastor Josh and Kiko Schulz for Bible Studies and times of prayer that helped keep this process on track! Thank you to Jodi Leso, Rob Sawyer and Andy and Kadie Wolfe for your friendship and many prayers! Thank you to the members of Living Faith Church of Winchester, Virginia, and The Lighthouse Church of Owenton, Kentucky, for your prayers. To my son David and the members of my family that have stood by me, thank you, I love you all!

A very special thank you to Ron and Mary Wolfe for their enduring friendship and support, for refuge from the storm, and for sharing the peace and beauty of their home with me!

Most of all, I thank God and my savior, Jesus Christ, for the gift of inspiration and the promise of an amazing future.

For the Kingdom

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good,

or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad,

for a tree is known by its fruit.

Matthew 12:33

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:3

1

T here is nothing as spectacular as a midnight sky viewed at thirty thousand feet. I looked out the window of the plane at the vastness of the deep dark velvet realm and thought, how stunning ! I don’t normally use the word stunning, I find that it seems to simply refer to jewelry or gems, but I must admit, at that moment, the stars that stretched as far as I could see resembled a multitude of tiny multifaceted diamonds. Stunning was the only word to describe it.

I sat staring out the window thinking about the beauty of the stars and the universe and the magnitude of it all and found myself wondering, God are you really out there somewhere in that deep dark beyond?

My thoughts drifted backwards through the years I had spent in church, sitting through hours of Sunday School lessons, flannel- graph puppets and sermons. I heard all of the stories of Moses, the baby in the basket, Joseph’s colored coat, Noah and the flood and Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Both of my parents had grown up attending church and insisted that my brother and I be present and accounted for every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and then again on Wednesdays for Bible Study. I was twelve when I gave my heart to the Lord and believed in Jesus as my Savior, but by my teen years I longed to be like other kids who could sleep in on Sunday mornings. It seemed that the only time my brother and I could do that was if we had just come out of the hospital or had a doctor’s excuse! Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot and had many friends and shared good times through those years, but I was glad when I left home for college and was finally able to make my own decisions about life and going to church. There was so much to do, and I spent most of my Sunday mornings reading and studying for exams and I was content with that. I occasionally attended a small church that was around the corner from the campus, but just wasn’t compelled to be there all the time. I figured God was just as busy as I was and wouldn’t even notice my absence.

I graduated from Radford University with a major in history. I tried to major in art, but I couldn’t get enough creative juices to flow from my mind to my fingertips, so I switched to history. I had always loved history, growing up in Virginia, I was surrounded by it. My dad was the one who got me started on that, he was the real history buff. While other kids were taking day trips to Busch Gardens and roller coasters, dad whisked us off to places like Antietam, Gettysburg, Bull Run, Monticello and the Smithsonian. He had a way of explaining things that made sense to us, and he could make up stories on the spur of the moment to keep our attention. We would spend entire weekends tromping across battlefields and reading roadside markers.

My brother