I am Colleen Mapatwana from the Eastern Cape, South Africa. I am a born again child of God, living a life of victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I started writing in 2014, it was my first year to minister as an ordained Pastor and have been allocated a branch to lead in my church. I was a Professional nurse and resigned for full time ministry.
My journey started when I was in high school, my friends and i would compete to see who would write the most interesting story. I then shelved the writing after high school, and carried on with the busy schedule of this life.
I had a rough childhood and often times I would ask unanswered questions. In 2008 through a Word from the Lord, I started writing a book but I only had the title and wondered what I would even write about. In 2013 i proceeded to to further my studies, when i nearly mental breakdown. I decided to visit a professional counsellor who once asked me, “has it ever occurred to you that you are not the only one suffering, maybe God allowed all this, so that you would be an encouragement to others”.
I recalled most of those I had met along the way and ‘The Spirit of the four Lepers was born. The four Lepers who sat at the city gates after being chased out due to their condition, had the zeal to live despite all the set backs in life. This is therefore an encouragement to all; ‘Do not let anything pull you down, reach out to God to hold your hand’. I thank God who has given me this great opportunity and thank you to Jacky Ingasian, for mentoring and helping us in this journey.
My first book is titled, “Set that Woman Free”. I never dreamt of writing books, when this title was laid in my spirit, I thought it was for a sermon but as I continued writing in my diary the Spirit of the Lord said. “We are writing a book”. The Holy Spirit led me as I knew nothing about writing and publishing. I have now self-published 7 books in English and one in our language ISIXHOSA, a collection of short stories from four writers. I also registered a publishing company in 2019.
The book that I am nominated for is titled, “When I Said I Do”. Is a Christian Novel published in December 2020. It’s a story of endurance for a young couple who met a church and made vows to each other. The antagonist who is a daughter of the Apostle at church has also vowed that she will be married to the young Pastor, other women at church wanted their daughters to marry the Pastor. That is where we see the power of darkness at play. They resorted to demonic tactics to get the attention of the Pastor and to kill his young wife. In this book, the power of prayer is displayed and also the dark secrets of the powers of darkness that rule on earth.
I have used my experiences as a Pastor to create this work of fiction.
You can find me on the following links,
https://www.facebook.com/starcolz
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56138336-when-i-said-i-do?ref=ru_lihp_lk_rv_0_mclk-up8448272419
